What’s the difference between IT consulting, IT support and managed IT services?
IT consulting broadly covers planning for computer networks, be it a new project, upgrade or migration. IT support is more centered around fixing an active issue, ie. “my printer is not working”. Managed IT services combine both IT consulting and IT support services, and augment those services with proactive support, systems monitoring and lifecycle planning. Managed IT service providers effectively assume all IT-related responsibilities.
There’s usually several giveaways that an email is not legitimate. If you were not expecting the email, it is spam by definition.Is it asking you to click a link and login to a site? Is it threatening you if you do not take immediate action? When hovering over a hyperlink, is the address in the popup different than the address the hyperlink is purporting to show? If yes to any of these questions, the email is spam.
Ransomware is a type of malware (commonly referred to as viruses) that uses strong encryption to lock you out of your own files, until you pay a ransom to unlock them. There is no guarantee that paying the ransom will get your files unlocked, and no guarantee that other malware was not also installed along with the ransomware.
Nothing connected to the internet is completely safe from attack, but there are still steps you can take to reduce the likelyhood of getting infected, and to decrease the damage done if you do get compromised: keeping up-to-date backups in an offsite location that’s not connected to your main network, ensuring all applications and operating systems are fully patched, and educating users how to spot malicious emails and files before someone clicks them.
