1. No backup had been run in about a week
2. Quickbooks was being run and both her and her husband’s laptop, but they were two different versions because they didn’t want to license two new copies.
3. All the software she ran was Windows XP, so her IT professional was telling her how she was probably going to have to license all new software because a new laptop was going to have Windows 7 on it.
4. The IT pro was charging about $800 to try to recover the data from the laptop and it was probably going to be another day before he knew what could be salvaged.

She was wondering if their business could have a Private Virtual Office, even though they are not in healthcare.

Absolutely.  And this is the important lesson. 

We target our marketing and advertising to healthcare because, frankly, this market needs this service.  They handle very sensitive data and the government, rightly or wrongly, is focusing its attention on healthcare data collection and storage processes.  But honestly, what business couldn’t use:

• 24/7 secured access
• The same desktop, delivered securely and virtually, on any machine you are on at the time
• Having data stored in a secured facility with almost no risk of loss
• The opportunity to pay for licensing of MS Office products as used, instead of paying for it up front
• The comfort in knowing that only authorized users can access company data
• The comfort in knowing, if they want, what users are doing to the data and the ability to put past snapshots of the data back online if something were to happen

Is a Private Virtual Office for every business?  No.  It is only for those businesses who want to secure the data and have access “anywhere”.  It is for those businesses who are asking the question, “How should our enterprise work tomorrow and what role should technology play?”

Don’t let our targeted focus get in the way of using the best option available.  What we do for healthcare, we do for every organization that is on our service.  You may never need the tool, but it is always available for that time you decide its necessary.  It beats saying “I wish I had done it earlier, because I wouldn’t be in this predicament today.”

Wine and Wisdom tonight.  If you are an accounting type professional in the Portland/Vancouver area, write me for details.  Argentstratus is sponsoring tonight’s event.  We will be exploring how our Private Virtual Office can increase not only their efficiency, but also their clients. 

Have a fantastic day.

We have yet to find the software application we cannot run in the Private Virtual Office.  Running software is only part of it though, the issue is securing data.  Some businesses just need a layer of security to keep from losing data; others need very deep and detailed security to protect the business from data theft or hacking.  Further, some businesses need “always on”, instead of “always accessible.”

Point of Sales (POS) is an “always on” issue.   The ability to track changes to the data stored for the organization is potentially pointless.  In most cases, POS is site specific, meaning that the access point doesn’t move around.   This leaves the business paying for services it cannot use, which can lead to dissatisfaction over time. 

I point all this out, because we want you to have the best solution available.  This means working with your IT professional to look at what you need to be doing and how technology has to work for you.  If, at the end of the day, our solution delivers what you need at the price point you find acceptable, then we can do business.  Otherwise, we are here to help you evaluate your alternatives to make sure you are getting exactly what you need.

Don’t worry about the application you need to run, think about how to make your business work the way you would want it to if you could design your business all over again. Think about the risks you face and if a highly detailed security system designed to keep hackers out and users honest is what you need to work without worry. 

If data security is what you are seeking, write us today at info@argentstratus.co or visit our website www.argentstratus.com  Tell us a little about your needs and let’s have a conversation.

Have a  fantastic Monday.  I am a little sore from a 30 mile bike ride yesterday (I know, some of you were told it was going to be 60, but I am more out of shape than I thought and the hills kicked my butt) but I am really excited about just being out and doing it.  If you are interested in joining me, let me know.

It comes with Windows 7 and nothing else.  Perfect for an access device for the Private Virtual Office where the business wants a PC instead of a mobile device like a laptop.  It is up and connected in about 10 minutes. 

Naturally there are output devices such as printers that need to be setup and possibly other input devices like a scanner to install, but you are connected and working on your applications and data with no wait or worry.  And, all for under $500.  It is even less than most thin client boxes available on the market today.

Think about what such a system does for the small business.  Currently, the cost to get a new PC up and running in your office doubles the price of the PC because of the time to install applications and devices and configure drives and active directory.  Now, that $800 PC costs about $1,500 when you get done installing everything, unless you think you are saving money by trying to do it yourself.  But all of a sudden, it is a $500 system with about $125 of setup, so under $700 total and about an hour of time and presto magic, you are fully functional. 

One hour instead of the 4 or 5 it currently takes to get a PC fully functional. No CD’s to swap out trying to install software as the software is already up and running in the PVO.  No more worrying about drive letter mapping as your organizational space is already laid out.  Just click the access icon and work.  I know, where is the fun in that right?

If you like the idea of buying new computers just for the thrill and excitement of loading software and fighting how it installs and why, well, obviously we are not the right service for you.  If you like giving a tech professional a few hundred dollars to do the install (because you are smart enough to realize you don’t really understand how to do it) then, again, we are probably not the right service for you.  Because at the end of the day, if you like the worry and stress, you will be disappointed with how boring it is to just have dial tone.

On the other hand, if you are looking forward to what your business is like tomorrow, we might be a good solution.  If you are wondering how technology can help you get closer to your clients and yet allow you access anywhere, we might be worth the time to have a conversation.  If you see the opportunity in being everywhere and needing a secure space to store your data so you never have to lose sleep again, we could be the answer you seek.

The winner is going to be the business that embraces the reality that connectivity is both a blessing and a curse.   If you want to think about the challenges and opportunity that an anywhere world can bring, contact us at info@argentstratus.com and lets schedule a time to talk.  No cost, no obligation, just a little chat about where you are and where you want to go.

Have a fantastic Friday.

“What really sets you apart from others who do similar things, like our current tech person?” I was asked at the meeting.  I start to mentally go through our list of benefits that really set us apart from our three main competitors (IT guys with managed service agreements, IT guys using Rackspace, users trying to do this on their own) and said

“Dial tone.”

And the controller and owner both look at me strangely and ask me to explain.  (For those who know me, you can already imagine the smile I got on my face, for those who don’t know me yet except through my writing, you can probably draw the picture).

Lets say it is a Monday morning, oh about 9am, and you go to pick up your phone and you can’t get dial tone.  What is your first reaction?  Be honest, are you angry or scared?

“Angry”, they both reply. 

“Why are you angry,” I ask.  “What thoughts do you think go through your mind?”

They go through the list, promise of service, in today’s world there is no excuse, they have an expectation that their phone system is going to be online 24/7 with no excuses.

Now, what about that same Monday morning at 9am and you come to the office and your server is showing a blue screen with the words “Fatal Exception” at the top with a string of characters that mean absolutely nothing?  What is your reaction?  Be honest, are you angry or scared?

Both said scared, absolutely terrified.

“Why are you scared?” I asked them to explain.  “What thoughts go through your mind?”

They go through the list: Did the backup run, will it restore, how will they work today, was anything critical left open, how much will this cost them to fix, how soon can the tech get out to look at it, what can they do since their entire business now runs on the server.

I nod my head. 

That is why we are dial tone.  We think in today’s world of highly connected communication you should have an expectation that you have 24/7 access to your applications and data.  That the service should be highly secure to keep the data protected, and run in such a way that you can get to your virtual office securely with the absolute minimum system available.  The Argentstratus Private Virtual Office is ready to take your business anywhere.

With the PVO, you no longer have to worry about secured access.  We handle the security to keep hackers out.  We also handle the security to keep your users honest.  It is your data and applications, we just deliver it through a secured virtual desktop.

The hard part is keeping me from building up the soapbox.  I can say the words, but the best proof is in trying it yourself.  Go to the website www.argentstratus.com go to the get your free quote and tell us a little about you. 

Think about how you want to work tomorrow and ask yourself if hosting an on-premise server will help you get there at the lowest possible cost, and then try us.  I think you will like the differences.

Have a fantastic Thursday.  Tech Time this afternoon and then BIA of Clark County’s comedy night.  A full day of friends and great conversations.  Can a buyer educator ask for more?

http://bit.ly/jWRRUk

Yes, the article is written by me so it is a shameless plug for you to read it.  I am still blushing over the comments the editor gave us for the articles submitted so far.

Have a fantastic day, I know I will!

I was asked to comment on the Chromebook as a game-changer for IT.  The concept of the chromebook fits very nicely into our vision of the corporate data center, where applications and data are kept on powerful and secured servers and your enterprise team just connects and works without fear and worry.

Enjoy the article.

• Paperless Office

With a paperless operational plan you not only scan everything, you begin to rethink the reason you print to paper. Lets say you are an insurance agency.  You find that most of the forms you print have the same 8 pages of boiler plate with two pages where data is changed.  Can the form be changed to have the two main pages up front and then, with an electronic signature pad, have the client sign where needed and then e-mail the document to the client?  My bet is your client will be happier as they would prefer it in electronic form for their own records and you can just save your copy to the Company’s database, attach it to the client record, and be done with it.  The important thing is to redesign the form to capture data in one place to make your life, and the client’s easier.

• Anywhere Access

You have thought about it, “How can you work from anywhere securely?”  It is not just working on the road, or even working in the next office, it is working in Hawaii or perhaps even in Europe.  With the right anywhere access operational plan, you are in one place, your clients in another, and your data is somewhere else.  The old adage “You can’t take it with you” holds especially true with data and applications.  Too many things go wrong while traveling: Laptops get stolen or damaged, flash drives get smashed, applications need upgrading.  Most importantly, your enterprise team needs access to those same applications and data, leaving one of you potentially with outdated data.  But beyond helping you work better, there is the whole aspect of redefining who is a best customer for your enterprise.  If you can be anywhere so too can your client.

• Secured Sharing

Even if you never leave your office to work, you should still consider how IT can change how you work and who works with you.  We use the term “enterprise” a lot as we think that you have new opportunities to work with people; some of the best and brightest who may very well be thousands of miles away.  If you are in Seattle, what keeps you from using a design engineer in Los Angeles? The worry is how to collaborate securely with you controlling the work and work product.  With a solid secured sharing operational plan you will start to rethink who is part of your team, your enterprise, and start finding the best, regardless of where they live.  You will also rethink how to manage the enterprise in a world where you never physically meet your direct reports, instead relying upon video conferencing and electronic white boards to work together.

We will be covering these three operational concepts in more detail in the coming weeks, adding to what we have already written about them. But at Argentstratus, we designed our Private Virtual Office to support your strategic vision for IT by focusing on security.  Security so you can work without worry.  If you are thinking about your future, your strategic direction, you realize that you have to be thinking how to leverage IT to change the way you do business.  Write us today at info@argentstratus.com for more information.

Because if you don’t, your competitors will.

Have a great Monday

An article that we submitted on how small business should re-evaluate their relationship with servers.

The debate is heating up and rightfully so.  Costs will continue to increase along with risks and the sooner small business, especially small healthcare business, looks at spreading their necessary costs, the sooner they can focus on how to remain profitable in a world that looks at healthcare as a commodity. Working on that article too.

Have a great weekend.  If you find that article interesting, please like it and comment.  You know I love the feedback.  And, if security and cost savings is important to your business, write us at info@argentstratus.com and lets explore if our Private Virtual Office is right for you.

We believe that the Private Virtual Office is all about choices – decisions. Not in making them per se, but in:

• Gathering data
• Filtering data to make it information
• Stringing information together to get business intelligence
• Putting business intelligence together to get cognition

But our role is creating the safe, secure environment for the enterprise to store it, access it and, most importantly, share it.

And he looked at me with that little half-smile of his and asked if anyone gets it. 

No.  But you know what, we do and that is all that matters.  The rest of the world will come around eventually.  What we have to do is first understand that there is a choice to be made.  That basic understanding is actually missing as the SME would prefer you to believe that there are no choices, no decisions.

Do you believe you have to live with computer failure and its disruptions on your business?

Do you believe you need to accept drowning in data?

Do you believe you must work from your office because that is where the machine is?

Do you believe…

Do you believe…

We cannot have a serious conversation about the Private Virtual Office and its benefit to your enterprise until you recognize that you actually face choices.  I still get odd looks when people look at my business card and see “Buyer Educator” as my title.  But think about it: In today’s world of data and information, how can you sell something?  I can’t sell, but I can help you determine if you need to buy.  In short, I help you understand your choices.

The choices are simple really.  Complete accessibility on your schedule or limitations on your access.  Spending expensive cash on equipment you cannot fully use or paying for the best equipment as you use it.  Hiring your own security team to manage your data or sharing the security service with hundreds of others to drive costs down. 

How much driving do you want your sales professionals doing?  Driving is muda, waste.  Even if they are on the phone, they are distracted and cannot reach for pen and paper.  And the worse time waster is driving back to the office to complete paperwork that could have, should have, been done immediately after the contact.  Your enterprise sells just two things; magic and the time it takes to create it.  Why waste a moment?

How important is it to protect your patients’ most private information?  Ignore for the moment government regulation, just think about your relationship with a patient.  They trust you with their most basic data about their health.  The current model puts you in control of the data, so shouldn’t you take every precaution to safeguard that information?  Yes, the model is flawed, but so what?  Your enterprise now owns their information and you need to protect it even more than you do your checking information.

The Argentstratus Private Virtual Office is all about securely storing, accessing and sharing what you need to make better decisions.  Write us today at info@argentstratus.com for more information.

Have a wonderful day.

In our case, the palace guard is our technical safeguards.  These tools and processes are designed to protect the data and information you placed on the Private Virtual Office.  These tools allow us to constantly monitor access and make sure that nothing goes missing.  Sounds great, but what am I really talking about, right?

First, we put every user into an organizational unit.  Each member of an organizational unit is given access to the applications and stored data that you said they could get to.  There is no blanket “everyone doing everything” policy setting.  You, the decision-maker, tell us who does what.

I know, what about your accountant or bookkeeper; valued members of your enterprise team but not necessarily employees.  They are also made members of your organizational unit if you want, but we require them to have a signed business associate agreement with you before we allow them access.  This is to help protect your business, even if you are not necessarily a covered entity.  Remember, our goal is to ensure that no one can get access or share your information without permission.

Once they log into the service, we have logging and monitoring software in place.  This ensures that we can verify who gets into what files so that, in the unlikely event some data is made public, we can determine who had access to what files to help you investigate the cause and set an appropriate remedy.  Yes, this seems a little reactive and it is.  But remember, you gave the user access permissions, so while we would like to stop them from doing anything that could cause harm, the reality is, today, that we can try to minimize the extent of the damage through constant monitoring.

We further block file movements.  Lets say that your practice management software (or CRM) allows the user to export all the details to an Excel file.  Imagine a disgruntled employee deciding to take the information and use it at his next employment opportunity. 

First, we monitored the user’s access to the service.  Next, we logged that he accessed the practice system and created a file.  He then tried to copy the file to a flash-drive, but that act is blocked.  He then tried to move it to the local hard-drive, but that is also blocked.  Finally, he had to open his browser, open his gmail account (that we had not blocked because your users use google search) and emailed it to himself.  This act is traced, even if he decides to delete his history.  Deleted from his history maybe, but not the systems.

Now, can we block access to gmail, hotmail, yahoo and all the other free email systems?  We can block them if you tell us to and we know about them… but let’s be honest, there are a gazillion different ways to send an email and it isn’t worth the effort to try to block them all.  The more important thing is that the employee’s know we are monitoring and can verify they did something.  This actually stops most of the problems from occurring in the first place.

Notice I said that they opened a different email instead of using their business account.  Because we are always monitoring that email system if the user chooses Custodiet(r) security.  Custodiet monitors all electronic communication and quarantines emails containing certain words or phrases.  We then let the privacy officer know that a suspected email was sent and request instruction. 

The point of all this is that we have very strong technical safeguards in place.  We use software tools and just plain old-fashioned security policy deployment to protect your data.  If you are looking for ways to monitor access, secure data, and ensure that your business is not at risk of data leakage, write us today at info@argentstratus.com for more information or to schedule an appointment.

Have a wonderful day.

You call your IT professional and he reminds you that he wanted to replace your server last year because it was 6 years old.  You need a new server, what should you do?

First, accept the fact that you must have a centralized system to host applications and store data.  In today’s world of data deluge, it is impossible to securely store and constantly monitor applications and data on local workstations.  So, knowing you must have one, which model is best?

Huh? What do I mean by “model”? That’s right, you have to choose which brand of system is going to host your applications and store your data.  Isn’t that where your IT professional wants to start the conversation?  Should it be Dell, HP, IBM, or a system that his company puts together to your specifications.

What?  Specifications?  Yes, you need to decide if it has 8GB RAM or 12GB, 4 processing cores or 16, 500GB of hard-drive space or 1TB, Intel or AMD motherboard.  That is the next step right? (Or, maybe your IT professional started here first and then helped you choose the model, either way, we are here).

It gets better from here: Managed Service Agreement or no MSA? Warranty or no warranty? Raid 5 or Raid 5+0?  What is your risk tolerance?  If you are a gambler and want to save a few hundred bucks, go with no MSA and no equipment warranty.  But, realistically, we are talking business which adores risk but hates gambling, so you will probably go with the MSA and equipment warranty.

Or…

You may have an enlightened IT professional who takes a deep breath and tells you that owning the system to host your applications and store your data and having it on-premise may not be a great solution anymore.  WHAT????? (I like her, have her give us a call please)

Move it to an off-premise system, she recommends.  Save your money by not investing in hardware that is obsolete immediately and software that has to be constantly monitored and updated.  More importantly, she reminds you, your producers are still filling out paperwork to hand off to an assistant who completes the forms for to review so that you can submit the invoice.  What if your producers could just get in, do their work, and submit the invoice?  From anywhere, at anytime. 

And, she reminds you, there is the entire security aspect of handling electronic information.  Your business takes people’s social security numbers and payment account data, stuff that should never see the light of day.  Yes, you could buy the security software, but it is the constant monitoring that is important.  Constant monitoring is expensive because it requires a human to be in the loop.  She shows you the math, $80K divided by your 1 business is $80K… $80K divided by 100 businesses is $800, divided by 1,000 business is $80… sharing the burden of technical management makes a lot of financial sense doesn’t it?

She is a gem.  The business of tomorrow is about the ability to work from anywhere and share your thoughts with everyone you want to share with… and no one else.  This requires a system that you can access anywhere and that your enterprise partners can access anywhere, to put two ideas together to create business intelligence.  This is why the Argentstratus Private Virtual Office exists… to give your enterprise secured access to your applications and stored data anywhere.

Argentstratus, Your Secured Office – Virtually – Everywhere.  Write us today at info@argentstratus.com to learn more.

Have a fantastic Friday!

No.  Not by a long-shot, although I can see where the comparison can be made by those who do not understand.

Rackspace delivers the computing power you think you need through various levels of servers that you decide you want.  That is problematic, from our humble perspective, in that client’s, our target clients anyhow, do not know what sort of computing power they need.  Do you need 256MB of RAM or 8GB?  do you need 100GB of hard-drive space of 1TB?  How many processors?  The price range is $200 to $1,200 per month just for the hardware.  Granted it is dedicated, but we also think dedicated servers are problematic.

Or perhaps you want to work through one of the “cloud” servers.  Again, you have to know the RAM you need and then you need to know your bandwidth requirements, both incoming and outgoing.  Nevertheless, the pricing for that starts at about $250 per month and goes up to about $900 for a single virtual server with 200 GB of bandwidth in and out.

Next you have to decide on the operating system.  You can go with Linux or with Windows Small Business Server.  You have to provide the operating system license.

Who is going to access the service and how?  You will probably need to look at VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) and then licensing Windows 7 for users along with Microsoft Office.  This adds about another $30 per user per month (purchase price amortized over 3 years)

Oh wait, you have decided to have Exchange to monitor and control e-mail?  Add a second virtual server, dedicated or cloud, at the same price as the original.  Add in the operating system and Exchange.

For the record, we like Rackspace!  We seriously considered renting virtual space on their servers as we started up.  Our problem was security since, according to the HITECH act, ANY individual or business who has, or potentially could have, access to EPHI is required to sign a business associate agreement.  We couldn’t find someone in Rackspace willing to sign such an agreement.  Perhaps they are willing to now or have made the process a little easier to figure out, but that, and the fact that the clients we talked to wanted local service, was the ONLY thing keeping us from renting their equipment initially.

The good thing about us not figuring out how to use Rackspace is that we learned how to create the system to service our clients using Whitebox equipment that we designed to our requirements.  This keeps the cost as low as we can go currently, but with plans to drive costs lower as we add data centers. 

Now, what sets us apart from Rackspace is that we determined right from the beginning to deliver exactly the computing resources a client needed.  Period.  No more: No less.  We then figured out a pricing model that made it easy for user to understand, once they thought about it.  We have taken a traditional model of capital investment and turned it fully on its head to a complete operating expense.  If you take an entire month off, you have ZERO charge from us and, when you return, your applications and data are right there, ready for you to use (although your password will be required to be changed).  We believe that you, the business owner, should only pay for what you use, when you use it. 

With the Argentstratus Private Virtual Office you get everything: Hardware, operating system and virtual desktop for each user.  If you use Microsoft Office through the PVO, you pay our SPLA price.  If you use any of our other SPLA software, you pay the price on the list.

Notice that I do not mention your main business software.  That is because you are still going to have to purchase the licenses for your main software, regardless of who actually owns your servers and where they are located.  Tax businesses will still have to license their tax software; healthcare practices will still have to license their practice management software.  There is no change in that. Today.  We are working on changing that too though.

If you want to understand your options for both on-premise and off-premise systems, write us today at info@argentstratus.com and lets talk about what each can offer your business.  We may be the best solution, we may not, the only way to find out is to discuss it.

Have a fantastic day.

Perception is reality.  So, for those who point to yesterday and try to draw the conclusion that tomorrow will be SSDD, I simply ask the question, “Why?”

Assuming that tomorrow will be like today assumes that dice have memory.  Relying upon observation without taking the step back (or 30,000 steps up) can leave you with the impression that things can’t be changed.  I respectfully disagree.

Mike Kinnaman of Designer’s Northwest, a good friend and a great listener and also this year’s president of the BIA of Clark County, and I were talking yesterday.  I observed that most people actually live in fear of the peaks and valleys, that they want a nice flat line, but say near the peaks.  He pointed out something I said in my speech last week that matter is never created or destroyed.  I said true, that if we were to fill in the lowest trenches on the planet with the rock and dirt from the highest peaks, we would have a nice flat earth.  

And he said something profound… “But you know, if it were flat, it wouldn’t support life.”

You have to love the thinker.

Life has ups and downs.  In fact I argue that your life is like your heart beat. Thump thump up, long pause, thump thump up.  A flat line is not a sign of serenity, it is a sign of death.  If you want just to have a flat line near the peak, try cocaine, if you want to have a flat line near the valley, try marijuana.  If you want to live and enjoy tomorrow for what you make of it?  Try scotch.  Now, I am not saying that scotch leads to enjoyment, but, well, it’s an acquired taste kinda thing.  The point is, avoid flat lines at any altitude. 

So what does tomorrow bring?  Tomorrow will bring excitement and sadness (up and down).  Seriously, before I can offer a prediction about tomorrow, I have to ask a question.  “What do you want to have for your tomorrow?”  This is essentially what we have been asking since we started Argentstratus and the Private Virtual Office, knowing what you know now, how would you design your company to work the way you want to work?

If you want a world of peace, I predict it is possible by starting your morning with a simple premise; everyone is your friend.  Now, the challenge is for you to break your old habit of assuming that half the people you meet do not like you and tell a friend you don’t know, “good morning.”  Invite a friend you don’t know at all to coffee and learn about him or her.  What are you afraid of?

Would you like one more prediction about tomorrow?  I knew you would. 

Tomorrow is going to be exciting.  It is the one place you haven’t been.  My advice though, don’t take any baggage.  What you need, you will find there.  I promise.

Can Argentstratus help you appreciate your trip to tomorrow?  Absolutely.  If you want the chance to have access to your data and applications from anywhere at anytime without ever needing to worry about security, talk with us.  We make only one promise to you, that you can have Your Secured Office – Virtually – Everywhere.  Write us today at info@argentstratus.com if you would like more information or to schedule a conversation.

Have a fantastic Tuesday.

What polices do you currently have to manage the security process?  We, Argentstratus and your ITC, help you design and implement Administrative Safeguards designed to prevent, detect, contain and correct security violations.  Argentstratus has direct control over only two of the three safeguards outlined by HIPAA, the physical and technical, and we know that we must work closely with the practices’ privacy officer to ensure strong administrative safeguards.  Afterall, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.

Who should be able to view truly private information?  Obviously the primary contact.  How about the receptionist who schedules the appointment?  How much depth is he required to have?  More importantly, how do you know if the receptionist did look at truly private details?  Some members of your enterprise should be blocked out and some simply monitored, but who?  This is where working with a HIT specialist such as Eric Wilgus can be of benefit.  Knowing how your compliant software monitors and reports on user access is critical.  

Do your enterprise members understand the importance of security?  While we require strong passwords with a minimum of twelve characters, there is nothing that stops the user from writing the password down and taping it to the monitor.  Do your employees understand the real reason for the password and, more importantly, why it is vital they log out and back in every time they step away from the access device?  Most users never stop the think about the security reasons for logging out; it is just an annoying inconvenience.  But, at least in our system, any access is traced back to the originating user so if a user leaves their session open and someone comes by and snoops, the user is the one who will be held accountable.  What information are you providing to help your members understand their risks and the reasons for the added security?

What contingency plans do you have in place in the event something happens to your hardware?  We actually believe that the risk of physical damage is the single greatest threat to small business.   Fire, viruses, vandalism, theft, these happen every day.  Yes, you are running back-ups daily, but are you testing that you can restore?  What steps do you take to secure your access devices (the PC’s in your office) if they are found to have a virus?  How quickly can you get new PC’s and get your practice up and running in the event of fire?  Are you positive that no data is stored on local machines that are not being backed-up?

Whether you move to a secured off-premise application and data storage system such as the Argentstratus Private Virtual Office, or keep it on-premise, the administrative safeguards are the first line of defense for the practice.  If you would like help in evaluating your administrative safeguards, write us today at info@argentstratus.com to schedule a no-cost, no obligation consultation or just for more information.

Have a wonderful Monday.

Office fires

On the first page were 5 stories of office fires that occurred just this week.  Two were edu-marketing materials about the hazards of office fires.

I then ran a second web search on the following terms and received 174 million results:

Computer hacking

On the first page were 0 (zero) stories of actual computing hacking.  All were edu-marketing materials including the fact that the Pentagon considers some hacking an “act of war”.

Now, I am not saying that computer hacking is not a real threat.  It is.  But the real risk, the risk your business faces every day is actually property damage, not hacking.  Even if you use the world’s largest internet company, Google, for your email, there is statistically an insignificant risk of being hacked if you have done your part.

Peter Sandman coined the term “dread factor”.  It works like this Risk = hazard + outrage – control (my addition to his equation as I think control is a big aspect of this in the IT world).  So, why is everyone so worried about hacking and not worried about fire?

His theory explains it this way.  The true risk is perceived as the percentage risk of a occurance, plus the outrage that happens from being the “victim”.  I would then ensure you add in the inverse of the ability to control the situation.  So, here is my estimation of the Sandman principle in IT risk:

For loss of business information due to fire:  Hazard at 2.5% + Outrage at 1.0% – Control at 5%, for a perceived risk of (1.5%) yes, that is a negative perceived risk, or the perception that you will never lose anything to fire.

For loss of business information due to hacking: Hazard at 0.005% + Outrage at 100% + control at 100%, for a perceived risk of about 200.005%, or the perception that you are imminently in danger of losing your data.

The Sandman principle is fascinating.  By the way, outrage and the inverse of control are directly impacted by the noise.  The noise is all the supposed experts running around telling you the sky is falling and the reporters who gleefully report it because scary news (and titillating sex) sells.  The real risks to your business data are not being hacked, even on an off-premise centrally hosted application and data storage system, it is

• hardware failure
• power spikes
• users
• viruses
• obsolescence
• change in business model

These are what put your data at risk, even on a “cloud” system.  The difference is, the off-premise virtual server provider has invested heavily in

• redundant equipment
• UPS and power control systems
• user control software
• virus control software
• beta and continuous hardware upgrades
• education on upcoming technological changes

I am not here to tell you that you won’t be hacked.  There is a quantifiable risk and it is even insurable (we know).  We have a saying, attributed to Dell, which goes  Security equals commitment, commitment equals dollars.  Therefore, the more security you want, the more money you need to spend.  Or, you can join a few hundred or thousands or million other businesses and share the responsibility of security so the cost per business is less than a latte a day. 

We would love to have a conversation with you about risk and if your business is a good candidate for the Private Virtual Office.  Write us today at info@argentstratus.com to schedule a discussion or for more information.  We look forward to helping you.

Have a fantastic Thursday.  Tech Time today looking forward to some great conversations about on-line and off-line marketing methods and their impact on our businesses.

And for the record, Argentstratus did not show up on the first page under either search.  I have to work on that obviously!

Think for a minute about the type of data you share with companies you do business with.  There is information they gather in the course of their interaction with you, possibly your birthday, your favorite sports teams, whether you like red or white wine.  That is rightfully business data that the company earned by engaging you in conversation.

Now, think about the data that these same businesses have that didn’t come from your regular interactions.  Your credit card number, your bank account information, personal phone number, your prescription history, the results of your last physical exam… this is what we term compulsory data, versus interactional data.  My bet is that the vast majority of businesses are holding compulsory data… and that data is unsecured.

I know, to most people there is no difference, after all, from the customer’s perspective all data given over is “compulsory” and from the business point of view, all data is “interactional”.  Why is this important?  Because compulsory information should be subjected to incredible security precautions, interactional data subject to reasonable security precautions.

Think about your personal health information for a minute.  If it is “yours”, why is it scattered through 7 different medical offices in 9 different formats and requires a court order for you to see? 

Thought experiment!  (I do not subscribe to this exact option, but it is a good one for playing with the idea)

Lets say that you could carry your entire medical record in a little memory chip on a credit card in your wallet (or purse) and you handed that card over to each medical practice you visited.  They updated your health record on the memory chip on the card and after your visit handed the card back to you.

How much of your personal and private health information is kept at the medical office?

None.  It is all on the memory chip on your card.

How much risk is there to you if the medical office computer system is stolen?

None.  All your medical information is on the memory chip on your card.

What is the cost to you for carrying around all your medical information on a memory chip on a card in your purse? 

Tremendous.   You are now responsible for maintaining and controlling your personal and private health information.  If you don’t have your card, you potentially are at risk of death because of mistaken health treatment.

Why don’t we do this?

You know, that is the most interesting question.  Do you want the short, politically incorrect answer? 

Society has deemed you incompetent to handle your own personal information. 

The long answer, the history of how we are at this junction in the battle between paternalism and freedom, is the subject of another blog, or perhaps a book, but it still boils down to the fact that we are not to be trusted with our basic information.  You have even been taught not to trust yourself.

Scoff if you must, but seriously, take a deep breath and ask yourself why you have to give your social security number to anyone who asks for it and they get to treat it as though it is their property, not yours?  Think about how to tell your doctor that you want all your medical information with you instead of sitting in her office in either paper or electronic format.  Try it and watch their expression and you will most likely begin to understand.

If you are a business that takes compulsory data from customers or patients, you owe them a higher duty of care in protecting that data.  Yes, you can have access to it when you need it, but you also have an obligation to keep it from prying eyes who do not need to see it.  If you are looking for a system that can deliver this type of protection at about half the cost of trying to do this on-premise, write us today at info@argentstratus.com for more information or to schedule a free conversation.

Have a fantastic day.

Another case is the business which lost its computers and server to a fire.  Actually, the equipment was not lost in the fire, it was damaged by the water used to fight the fire.  Thousands of dollars worth of sophisticated equipment turned to junk.  Where were the back-ups?  One tape was still in the drive, the previous day’s tape was left on the shelf next to the server and the back-up from the prior Friday was in the receptionist’s desk drawer.   Their only reliable back-up is two weeks old, representing hundreds of lost transactions and countless thousands of dollars of lost profit.  Because those records were completely lost as the paper was stored in the office alongside the server.

What is frustrating is that these two examples are real, they happen every day to small business.  I caught a brief glimpse of the news the other day and they were televising an industrial fire.  Lots of chatter about caustic black smoke and firefighters in protective gear.  No word, not a single one, about the lost computer system.  It seems that computers are only important if the contents are exposed.  Sony’s security failure gets airtime even though it is a statistical anomaly.  I am not saying it isn’t important, I am saying keep it in perspective.

Perhaps that is the point.  The computer is just a tool and its use is now an everyday act that is part of the background.  No one reports on the hammer until the hammer is used in an attack.  Then there are new laws passed to restrict the use of hammers and potentially who owns it.  Nevermind that the risk isn’t with the hammer, but the person who used it inappropriately.

I am working on an article for a national magazine.  One of the things that I discussed in the article is that risk exists.  At the end of the day, the best we can do is minimize risk.  Society believes, however, that risk should be eliminated.  Which is a great thought, except that no one looks at the real cost of eliminating risk.  We can eliminate bank robberies today if society doesn’t mind the inconvenience of not having bank branches anywhere in the world.  Of course, convenience store robberies will increase, but the important thing is we eliminate a particular risk right?

The frustrating thing is not in the trade-off, it is listening to the peddlers of the noise talk as though the trade-off can happen without cost.  But no matter how complicated the pundits make an issue seem, the truth is:

Security equals commitment.  Commitment equals dollars.   If you have the money and are willing to invest it exclusively in security, more power to you.  Or, perhaps you can trust the fact that there are businesses out there who spend their dollars on securely storing, accessing, and sharing data.  That is what Argentstratus provides: Your Secured Office – Virtually – Everywhere.  We use the word Secured intentionally because our focus is on security.

If you want to spend $100,000 to create your own secure space, contact us and we will consult with you at no cost.  That’s right, we won’t charge you a cent to help you plan your secured data center.  On the other hand, if you want to spend $0 upfront on having a secured space, contact us and we will consult with you at no cost.  That’s right, we won’t charge you a cent to explain how our secured data center can help your business.

$100,000 or $0.  Either way, it will be a great conversation, we just think $0 is the right amount to invest.  Write us at info@argentstratus.com to schedule a conversation or for more information. 

Happy Tuesday everyone.

After that is Tech Time.  Last week we discussed the Chromebook and its implications on IT.  We had a great conversation about what it means when people can access their applications and data anywhere and at anytime.  The Argentstratus team believes this is the future of IT delivery.  I think small and medium-sized businesses are going to rethink owning centralized application and data storage systems as they are expensive to purchase, operate and maintain.  Not to mention secure and allow from access anywhere and at anytime.

Our Tech Time conversation will be a continuation of the Chromebook concept but we will probably move it to a more in-depth talk about “cloud” (shudder) computing.  I think we all want to really understand the options available and when to move particular clients onto particular service platforms.  It should be a great time.

And then we move over to the Heathman for our big debut.  I have waited until this event to publicly introduce the Private Virtual Office and how we are part of the movement to free people from their desks and their PC’s and get them out into the world.  My speech is prepared and I will be posting it as tomorrow’s blog so you can critique it.  We have 2 demo accounts set up and 2 Powerpoint presentations ready to run.  We have our security summary and Private Virtual Office security letter printed and ready for the taking.  I am sorry to hear about Rob McKenna’s mother passing and offer him our condolences at his loss.  The Secretary of State Sam Reed will apparently be coming to speak in his place.  Not as exciting as I had hoped, but I am still hoping that there is good press coverage anyhow.

I got a kiss good luck from Tania on her way out which made my morning spectacular. 

We are ready.  All of our detailed work on the infrastructure is about to be showcased in front of 300 influential people and the press.  I feel like Lightning McQueen in the movie “Cars”… It is time to rev the engine and go for the checkered flag.

Have a fantastic Thursday and if you are coming to tonight’s Argentstratus Auction for Political Action, come to our table and say hi.  Mike and I would like that.

I am always amazed at watching the boys play.  They find a toy and just play with it.  Even when they are building with legos, they build things like cars and planes with the fewest amount of blocks they can.  They don’t add unnecessary details, even though their imagination is so vivid I know they see those details in their young minds.

When did we start falling in love with making things hard?  Watching our teens grow up and try to still find complex answers to what are really simple problems makes me wonder when we start thinking that the obvious answer is not the right answer.  I marvel at how they creat elegant solutions by tearing apart a computer and painstakingly putting it back together, when the problem was that the power cord wasn’t fully seated. 

The Marine Corps was great at teaching simplicity.  Immediate Action: When X happens do A.  Simple, and in its own way; elegant.  Simple steps taken right up front might solve 80% of the problems you face, and that leaves you time to be creative on the other 20%.

Yes that old-fashioned Pareto problem.  We spend 80% of time trying to fix 80% of the problems, without realizing that most of those problems are actually normal.  Life is full of deviations and some are just not worth trying to fix.  A Font just doesn’t print right… so instead of investing 70 hours searching the internet for a fix, how about change the font?

I happen to believe that almost all problems we face have a simple solution.  But that simple solution requires a hard choice sometimes.  And here is the conundrum; we create complex solutions not because of the problem, but because we don’t want to face the hard choice.  But hard choices passed-on today lead to simple choices down the road, and those usually lead to even more hurt and anguish.

For instance, one client we proposed to right after we went live in March was facing a centralized application and data storage system (it was a server in a PC box) that was overheating and crashing at the worst times.  The backup took 8 hours and about 1/2 the time the system crashed during the backup so they did not have a reliable data set to fall back on if something terrible happened.

They needed a new system, we proposed the Private Virtual Office.  They were almost ready to say yes.  But then their key employee said his son could build them a new server with everything on it for $2,500.  They were faced with a simple problem with a simple solution and agonized about it for weeks and finally agreed to let the key employee’s son build them a server because they were afraid that the key employee would have his feelings hurt if they said no.  Afterall, it is just a computer system.

It took a month and fortunately the system didn’t crash before it went live.  They went to turn it on and put their applications and data on it, to find out that it is a Linux based system with Open Office and other freeware that couldn’t support their primary application and database.  So what did they do?

They paid the kid an additional $2,500 to load the correct operating system so they could work.  In the meantime, guess what finally happened?  That’s right, the system died a tragic horrible death and they lost about 2 weeks worth of data that had to be re-entered once they got their new system up and running.

By the way, the key employee gave his notice a week ago and will be leaving the Company June 1.

The Argentstratus Private Virtual Office is a simple elegant solution to your business needs.  You get your applications and data your way; delivered in a traditional Windows desktop.  The difference is it is delivered securely and virtually and we monitor and control what happens in your virtual office.  You are in control instead of the user of the PC.  How we make it happen?  Complicated and you really don’t care.  You just want to work and enjoy your life right?

If that is you; a business owner who is tired of worrying about servers and viruses and security, write us today at info@argentstratus.com for more information on how our Private Virtual Office can deliver Your Secured Office – Virtually – Everywhere.

Have a fantastic Wednesday.

Essentially though, I have been thinking about the world we want to live in.  It is our favorite question, “If you could start all over again knowing what you know now, how would you do it?”  We love this question as it really gets to the heart of being in business, and living your life.

Do you live to work?  Or, have you decided that you work so you can live?  What if we changed the measure of productivity to reflect how much leisure time we had?  What if we valued leisure time at say, $1,000 per hour, how much is your life worth?

Are we destined to work just because we believe the truth is that we are what we own?  How much happiness has that new car gotten you?  I bet the truth of the matter is you found happiness in having a beer with friends and talking about how you would shape the world if you were in charge.  I know I get far more happiness from those moments.

Justice is keeping the course and knowing in your heart you are right and can win.  It is staying focused, while at the same time opening yourself to a little risk. 

So take the risk, eat dessert first today.  I think you will be glad you did.  And if you want to feel secure in your risk taking by having your data and applications safely tucked away where only you and your enterprise can get to it, write us at info@argentstratus.com to schedule a free conversation.  Lets talk about your risks, but most importantly, how you would build your business if you could start it all over again.

Have a wonderful Tuesday.  And I am having Apple Pie for dessert.  Who wants to join me?

Being fully connected means that the members of your “enterprise” (meaning employees, vendors, partners, customers and even potential customers) have access to “information” in a real-time setting.  Each can check inventory levels, schedule deliveries, check work requirements, and complete payments without human intervention.  Now, here is where businesses need to be careful, because the fully connected enterprise is not stripped of human contact, it enhances human contact where such contact is desired by the customer.  This means the fully connected enterprise has their people ready to assist each other on a personal basis when assistance is requested. 

Believe it or not, being fully connected actually brings customers closer to your business.  It blurs the lines between production worker and sales staff such that your employees begin to fit together in solving client problems.  Imagine for a moment, a car manufacturer.  In the fully connected enterprise, perhaps the prospective buyer shows up at a showroom where, instead of acres of cars waiting to be sold, there is 10-12 fully loaded models ready for a test drive.  The prospective buyer takes each out, feels the likes and dislikes and, upon returning to the showroom enters their reactions to the car into an online survey.

If the prospect decides that they like Car X1, they sit down at the computer terminal and begin to design the car.  All the time the screen is updated with total cost and guaranteed day of delivery.  When there is a concern, or a particular feature is not understood, a professional design consultant is available in the showroom to help the buyer know what the feature represents and how it works, or doesn’t, for the particular buyer.

At the end, the owner clicks a few buttons and perhaps it takes them to an automated credit authorization site.  They again, enter a few relevant points of data and the system generates several loan choices based upon credit scores and the like.  The buyer can decide which financing option is best for them.  Now that the transaction is complete, the customer waits for delivery; usually within 5 business days.

At the manufacturers end, the survey results are passed to a team of engineers and production specialists who look at the feedback and decide if changes are warranted.  They may even call a customer to gain further insight into the answers.  This provides the team ideas on new product enhancements or base model changes for future editions.

After the customer has clicked accept, something amazing happens.  A car is started.  Not before; it is not pulled from inventory and tweaks done.  Metal is formed and welded to create the frame, panels and doors are molded, wiring harnesses assembled, engine systems installed.  Some steps completely robotic, some steps completely human, some a combination.  But, what is important is that the car is started only upon order. 

Inventory, or the anticipation of customer demand, becomes obsolete in the Age of Intelligence.  We will create systems and business enterprises that respond exactly to customer wants.  Companies will no longer make things in hopes of stimulating demand and then offering price as the single most compelling reason to buy unwanted junk.

Will this be painless?  Not at all.  This change is going to be fought tooth and nail, with those who prefer the old way trying every protectionist method they can to keep the old “build it and they will come” mentality in the forefront.

Will they succeed?  Not at all.  It will take some time, perhaps even another generation, but eventually people will stop, sit up, and ask why they are buying things?  And when that happens, the Age of Intelligence is here. 

It means that our measurement of prosperity, GDP will become outmoded.  It already is, but it is the only way that government has to measure their slaves’ offerings to the temples of bureaucracy.  To what depths will they go to keep you focused on always buying more and more stuff that you don’t need, that doesn’t enhance your life? 

Only you know, only you can decide.  All we at Argentstratus know, is that your business data needs to be secure.  We know you need to get to your data from anywhere so you can cut out the wasted time and effort of batch and queue.   When you get control of your time, you start to see amazing opportunities.  Let us help you get control.

If you would like more information or would like to talk about how the Private Virtual Office can help your business securely store and access data and information, write us at info@argentstratus.com.

Have a wonderful Monday.

What is interesting in this report is that identify theft and computer crimes, as separate categories are ranked 3 and 4 and represent less than 10% each of reported crimes.  These are also probably the least reported criminal acts because 1) the victim may not know it happened and 2) the victim may in fact be afraid to report it.  Only certain types of industries, those in health care and financial services in particular, are subject to the Red Flag Rules, which mandate reporting of PII loss.  And even then, most businesses might not realize their company released the information or worse, are worried about the loss of business reputation if the community discovered that they lost PII.

Complaint Characteristics*
During 2010, the non-delivery of payment or
merchandise was the most reported offense, followed by
FBI-related scams and identity theft.
IC3 primarily refers complaints with claims of dollar
losses (dollar loss claims). Other complaints, which may
represent a comparatively large percentage of complaints
received, do not contain dollar loss claims, but are
intended only to alert IC3 of the scam. For a more
detailed explanation of complaint categories used by IC3,
refer to Appendix I.
Complaint category statistics may not always produce
an accurate picture. They are based on complainant
perception. However, the CMS was designed to mitigate
a certain degree of subjectivity, allowing complaint
categorization to be reported more consistently.
Complainant-Perpetrator Demographics
Investigating and prosecuting cyber crime is unique
because the victim and perpetrator can be separated
by a few blocks or thousands of miles. Successful
investigations often require the cooperation of multiple
agencies to resolve cases. Table 5 highlights this truly
borderless phenomenon. A minority of perpetrators
reside in the same state as the complainants. This
underscores the national and global nature of Internet
crime and the need for multi-jurisdictional cooperation
to combat it.
Complainant Demographics
Most complainants were in the U.S., male, between 40
and 59 and a resident of California, Florida, Texas or New
York. Most foreign complainants were from Canada, the
United Kingdom, Australia or India (see Map 3).
Men reported greater dollar losses than women (at a
ratio of $1.25 to every $1.00). Individuals 60-and-over
reported higher median amounts of loss than other
age groups.
Type Percent
1. Non-delivery Payment/Merchandise 14.4%
2. FBI-Related Scams 13.2%
3. Identity Theft 9.8%
4. Computer Crimes 9.1%
5. Miscellaneous Fraud 8.6%
6. Advance Fee Fraud 7.6%
7. Spam 6.9%
8. Auction Fraud 5.9%
9. Credit Card Fraud 5.3%
10. Overpayment Fraud 5.3%

These acts are not going to go away.  There will always be people out there willing to risk jail time for the opportunity of easy money.  If you want to protect yourself and your business from loss of your client’s Personal Information, let’s have a talk about how the Argentstratus Private Virtual Office may be able to help you.  Write us today at info@argentstratus.com to schedule your free consultation.

Have a fantastic Friday.

*From the 2010 Internet Crime Report, Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)

The danger arises when the Road Warrior, with the best of intentions, copies files to his travel drive because he wants to use every idle moment productively.  At 8am Monday, he copies off the Smith files to the laptop hard drive and then, while waiting in the airport, opens the files and starts working.  Noble ideal, but are the risks worth it?

At Argentstratus, employees do not take files off the system.  Their access device (laptops, netbooks, Ipads and we are experimenting with the Playbook now) carries no business applications.  Everything the employee needs is locked up on the Argentstratus Private Virtual Office.

What they have is the login prompt.  Talk about security!  A year ago, when I would travel, I had data on flash drives and on the laptop.  I lived in fear of being bumped and having the flash drive taken; I worried constantly that I would close my eyes and the laptop would be stolen.  And now, I can literally walk away from my $300 netbook and lose nothing but $300 (and no, for the record I am not interested in losing the $300 but it is better than losing client PII).

We do not need to worry about encryption on travel drives or laptop hard drives.  We do not need to worry about synchronizing data between the centralized system and the traveling machine.  Everything is stored and run on the Argentstratus Private Virtual Office.  I even write this blog through a browser running inside my virtual desktop.  We encourage this of all our employees as it protects them from again, losing their access device and having passwords to websites stored in memory.  With us, we have just one password to remember and we can securely and safely surf the web.

I hear you asking, “How is this security?”  Peace of mind is what security is all about.  But that is a cliché, so let’s get into the nuts and bolts of how we are more secure.

1. All data is stored on our off-premise centralized application and data storage system
2. Access monitoring is running 24/7 on the CADS
3. All applications are run on the CADS, nothing is pulled to the access device
4. The only transactions are keystrokes, mouse clicks, and screen images.
5. Internet interruptions cause the loss of, at most, a few keystrokes
6. What you have running upon termination of the login is still there waiting for you
7. We are device independent, which means that you can access from a public system
8. No images are left in browser history. There is no history at all
9. Encryption and synchronization are no longer necessary so accidental loss is avoided

If you travel a lot and want to be able to work without worry and fear, I will make you a deal.  Contact us today for a free 30 day trial of the Argentstratus Private Virtual Office.  Put your Office files on the system and do your work.  See and feel for yourself how much like your “real” desktop we are, but how much more secure and accessible your data is while protecting you.  If you are not completely satisfied we deliver the security we promise and access you want, we will return your data at anytime within 1 hour of the request.  Write us today at info@argentstratus.com and lets discuss how we can help you have Your Secured Office – Virtually – Everywhere.

Have a wonderful Thursday.  Tech time this afternoon.  We are really excited to get together with other IT professionals and discuss topics that are important to our clients.  Thank you everyone for your involvement.

To our way of thinking, there are two types of breach, unauthorized and inappropriate access.  The unauthorized access is the hacker who attempts to crack the security system to gain entry into the heart of a system.  Now, what steps do we take to stop this?  Here are a few:

• We use the RDC with terminal services to access the PVO.  That means a users history is not stored on the machine in the event the equipment is lost or stolen.
• Each user has a unique login and long-string password.  User access can only be compromised if the user gives up control of their login and password.
• Each user has a security profile which determines what they can see and get access to.
• Passwords are required to be changed quarterly.
• Argentstratus employees have login prompts totally different from their email name so vital system administration functions cannot be accessed by trying to use an email address.
• User login times are often restricted to certain times of the day.  Efforts to log in outside those ranges are blocked.
• We have no guest login. 
• There is no web-based portal for entry.
• Demo users are automatically timed out after 30 days.
• After 21 days of inactivity we disable accounts and require confirmation of the Privacy Officer to reinstate.
• The PVO is not web-based.  (that means it is not a “cloud” server!)

We have other, more technical and software based detection systems, but we believe that these alone keep out about 98% of all unauthorized access attempts.  The software intrusion system works to keep out the other 2% by monitoring the IP addresses of the person trying to get access and, if the Infrastructure Security Wizard thinks it is unusual it is blocked.  In the most serious brute force attempts, we re-route our own internal IP addresses to the Private Virtual Office to one of our backups.

Our bigger concern, for the users, is what is deemed inappropriate access.  This is when an authorized user (one of your employees) looks at data or information they do not have a reason to look at.  In a bookkeeping business, it is an employee who looks at a clients payroll file and sees wages and Social Security Numbers just to satisfy their own curiosity. 

Looking at it is bad enough, but the worry is that the user decides to take the information out of the PVO.  While we cannot do a lot to actively stop people from looking, we can take far more active steps on preventing information from leaving your Virtual Office.  Yes, this is a much more complicated approach and requires a very large degree of cooperation between our Infrastructure team, the ITC, and the client’s Privacy Officer.  Here are some of the things we do to restrict inappropriate access:

• Security profiles can be set down to the file level so certain users do not get access to some applications or data.
• User file access is monitored (and reported to the Privacy Officer upon request)
• We block all users from moving data to a local storage device unless the Privacy Officer requests the right to have some employees move data.
• We monitor all emails in Custodiet(r) to keep PHI, PII, and sensitive business data from being sent out. 
• We request authorization from the Privacy Officer to allow an email quarantined by Custodiet(r) to be sent to its intended recipient.
• Any approved email sent through Custodiet(r) is automatically encrypted if it contains certain words, phrases, or sequences.

Protecting your practice and business data from misuse by those you trust is difficult and requires far more active participation from the Privacy Officer.  It also requires a real effort to want to protect that data as old habits die hard.  Lets face it, just giving everyone access to everything cuts down a lot of little headaches of being in business, but we believe that there is far more risk to just turning over access than in stopping some users from looking at some files.

If you are seeking strong security of your data, we are here to help.  Write us today at info@argentstratus.com for more information or to schedule a free consultation on what the Private Virtual Office might be able to do so you can benefit from greater access, security, and sharing of your information to make your business work the way you want it to.

Have a wonderful Tuesday.

You can see why we believe the Argentstratus Private Virtual Office is like a castle.  We are designed to protect what is inside; keeping intruders at bay.  We have guards who review who comes and goes and even secret police that monitor for theft of state secrets.  It is your castle, protecting what is most important to you and giving access to everyone that you want to be part of your enterprise.

Ah, you are stuck on the secret police thing.  Lets face it, in today’s world, there is just too much at stake to assume that everyone is loyal and trustworthy.  Far too often you hear about long-time employee’s, trusted colleagues, stealing company data and using it to feather their own nest.  When you are dealing with your internal data center, you don’t know, usually until it is too late, that someone has been taking things, or gaining access to data, that was not theirs to take.  In today’s electronic world, where a clients entire business history can fit on a storage device as big as your fingernail, trust without security is an unnecessary risk.  We offer that security so you can go back to trusting your employees.  We worry so you can work.

Intruders, as we have learned by watching the Playstation network, Amazon and even Google recently face attacks and go offline, are relentless and want nothing more than what you have stored.  But an electronic attack is only way of getting to the data.  An internal server, sitting in your reception area, is even more vulnerable that the mighty networks above.  The important point about technical safeguards is that they are implemented and then CONSTANTLY monitored.  I am not saying that the large cloud servers do not monitor access, but they have millions of users and, as public cloud providers, do not monitor as closely as we do in our private virtual office.  They can’t… too many restrictions and access safeguards cause headaches for users.  Argentstratus, on the other hand, has application and data security first and foremost in our mind.  So while a user might grumble at having to remember a 16 character password, you don’t have to think about who is getting access and what they are doing in your private virtual office.

If you are interested in how to have your own private castle, protecting  your business data and monitoring access, we would love to talk with you.  visit our webpage listed above or write us today at info@argentstratus.com to schedule your free consultation.  We are looking forward to having a discussion with you.

Have an incredible Wednesday.