Blog & Tools

Seventy-six percent of organizations experienced phishing attacks in 2017 according to a recent report and nearly half of all the respondents said the attacks are increasing.

This month Rob Swenson filed his 500th blog for SDN. They all come in bite-sized chunks, describing everything from our company’s growth and culture to cool gadgets and not-so-cool cybersecurity hacks.

Not surprisingly, attacks intended to disable computer systems in South Dakota schools increase about the time of semester tests. The culprits, presumably, are students who are smart enough to launch Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks but are too lazy or mischievous to study for exams.

Southwest West Central Service Cooperative (SWWC) headquartered in Marshall, MN, has chosen SDN Communications and its Minnesota and South Dakota partner companies to provide several broadband services to approximately 50 sites, including schools, libraries and other government agencies.

Eighteen students are on track to graduate in May from Mitchell Technical Institute with degrees in telecommunications. About 90 job opportunities await them.

NTCA - The Rural Broadband Association certified Midstate Communications' network, proving it’s a Gig-Capable Provider. And the company is proud to offer such a high-level of service to all of its customers.

Sioux Falls area businesses have a rare opportunity to hear one of the nation’s top G-Men March 27. Supervisory Special Agent Jay Patel will open the US Chamber of Commerce event with an unclassified FBI briefing

Several elementary schools in Sioux Falls don’t enjoy the benefit of having active parent-teacher groups. The schools’ students miss out on the volunteer help and the financial assistance that parent organizations typically provide.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce will cohost a regional cybersecurity conference March 27 at the Holiday Inn City Centre in Sioux Falls.

SDN Communications launched a new service at the beginning of 2018 to help companies more efficiently and securely access their cloud-based data centers and applications.

SDN Communications expanded its internship program several years ago, and the results continue to be highly worthwhile.

With businesses’ computer networks under constant attack by everyone from neighborhood hackers to international gangsters, IT professionals really have become heroes in the workplace.

South Dakota remains the last state in the nation without data breach reporting protection for citizens, but Attorney General Marty Jackley intends to change that with the help of lawmakers this session.

Shari Lund is thrilled with the fast and effective service that SDN Communications provided to replace a key piece of networking equipment at her bank.

Overall, the Top 10 blogs for 2017 highlight an interesting mix of people. It includes staffers at SDN ranging from interns to Mike Haskins, the company’s new vice president of network operations and engineering.

The company’s 160 employees contributed more than $53,000 in cash to charitable causes in the Sioux Falls area during 2017. That comes out to about $332 apiece.

Not all ransomware attacks are successful, of course. Companies are learning to adequately back up data and to keep their networking equipment and programs up to date.

Approximately 34 million Americans lack broadband access, and 23.4 million of them live in rural areas, according to Microsoft’s proposal to connect more rural residents to the benefits of high-speed internet.

People in Brookings, including students, staff and visitors at South Dakota State University, can look forward to improved telecommunications in 2018.

As director of IT, Jon Scarbrough oversees the internal corporate network and application development. In addition to vast experience, Scarbrough brings to SDN a passion for cybersecurity, which is an increasingly important issue in telecommunications.