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Type: Blog

Tips from FBI to prevent and discourage ransomware attacks

With good reason, this blog has focused a lot of attention in recent months on ransomware, a form of cyberattack been increasing at a rate that is almost alarming. Last year, cybersecurity forensics experts discovered approximately 100 families of ransomware.
Golden West celebrates 100 years and keeps looking ahead

Golden West has been a significant factor in the telecommunications business in South Dakota for a 100 eventful years, and the Wall-based company keeps preparing for the future.
Surprise! Your company’s network probably has been breached

If you’re in business, hackers have probably breached your organization’s computer network at some level. Company leaders might not be aware of the intrusion yet, but they will discover it eventually.
Seven tips to help protect your business from email scams

The FBI tracks scams in a category called Business Email Compromise. In the 18 months immediately after January 2015 BEC scams cost more than 21,100 domestic and international victims approximately $3.1 billion.
More businesses should consider encrypting sensitive data

Encryption is the process of converting data into computer coding that cannot be easily deciphered by unauthorized users. However, users with the password or online key can convert the mathematical algorithm back to readable data.
Businesses should take note of consumers’ privacy concerns

A whopping 92 percent of U.S. Internet users worry about online privacy, and 89 percent say they avoid companies that don’t protect their privacy.
Security experts offer advice to help businesses protect data

The low-cost and successful nature of scamming operations virtually guarantees their continued existence. So, companies and consumers must be on guard. In fact, increases in cybercrime suggest that prospective victims should be on higher alert than ever before.
Oops, you clicked on a bad link. What should you do now?

Like technologies, online threats change. Cyber thieves constantly refine their tactics and tools to create new threats. A business network that is safe and secure today might be at risk tomorrow. Businesses have to regularly update their security plans and procedures to keep up.
Hackers zeroing in on data-rich health care industry

I’ve been on heightened awareness for identity theft for the past 18 months. I was among millions of past and present customers of the health insurance giant Anthem Inc. who were notified in the spring of 2015 that cyber attackers had successfully hacked the company’s electronic records.
Passwords: A recipe for security, words to avoid

Simplistic, numerical sequences are commonly used for passwords. Six of the 10 most common passwords in 2015 were nothing but numerical sequences. In addition, the top-row, keyboard sequence “qwerty” came in at No. 4.
SDN’s high-security Data Center impresses local officials

The 25,000-square-foot, bunker-like Data Center just northwest of Sioux Falls provides secure space for servers and other equipment so that SDN and some of its clients can back up their valuable electronic information.
Leadership training grows employees, strengthens businesses

Companies that provide leadership training can benefit from increased employee loyalty and reduced turnover. Providing training can also help companies identify possible problem areas developing within the organization.
Benefits of managed services not limited to IT department

Supplemental benefits, though less obvious, offer a significant amount of value to a company’s managed services. Activity logs and performance reports, for example, can provide useful, in-depth information about network traffic, which can help companies improve their objectives, policies and procedures.
Protect workstations with good policy, tools and common sense

Deploying an effectively layered cyber defense means that every point of access in an organization’s network must be strongly protected. That includes workstations. All of them.
RC Technologies takes pride in its local roots and experience

RC Technologies is a big economic force in small town. The telecommunications cooperative is the largest employer in New Effington, a community of fewer than 250 residents in northeastern South Dakota.
SDN employees consistently come through for the community

Seventy third-graders at Hawthorne Elementary School in Sioux Falls were at risk of missing out on a field trip to the Washington Pavilion last spring. Many couldn’t come up with the $2.50 they each needed for the outing.
Protecting edge of a network from outside world is a big job

Firewalls have big jobs, and their duties are getting bigger all the time because of the rising frequency and sophistication of attacks.
Mentoring program gives new SDN workers an extra resource

Sioux Falls-based SDN’s new mentorship program is designed to connect new staff members with established colleagues outside their department.
Virtual hospital connects rural clinics with medical assistance via fiber

A person seeking medical attention occasionally wanders into the Avera eCARE center in the industrial area of northern Sioux Falls. It’s an understandable mistake. While Avera eCARE professionals provide world-class medical services, they only serve patients remotely.
Attackers have stepped up their game. Businesses must, too.

To adequately protect themselves, businesses and other organizations need to take a layered approach to cybersecurity. They have to have good policies in place, maintain good security equipment at every juncture and take extra precautions with their most vulnerable asset: their employees.