For your business to succeed, all departments must work to the best of their ability. Your IT network needs to operate the same way. That’s where network monitoring comes in. Discover the most effective network monitoring techniques to drive your business to success. 

What Is Network Monitoring?

Network monitoring refers to checking and optimizing essential components within a computer network. Equipment like routers, switches, and servers are all included in a network monitoring checklist, as well as cybersecurity components like firewalls. IT experts must check these systems to stay ahead of any performance issues and minimize network downtime. 

The Importance of Network Monitoring

If your in-house IT team doesn’t use network monitoring tools, your business is at risk for service disruptions. For example, checking your servers and routers tells you how quick your network traffic flow is. If the equipment can’t efficiently handle the traffic, the entire network may experience issues. 

Even the most minor disruption can impact your business performance. This can compromise your network security and lead to decreased productivity. 

Network Monitoring Techniques 

There are specific protocols that network performance monitors should follow. IT experts can easily pinpoint and resolve issues by having complete visibility over the network’s end-to-end components. Implement the following techniques to guarantee a strong and reliable computing network. 

Analyze Metrics

Are you tracking the right metrics in your network’s performance? Experts recommend you track and analyze the following criteria for success:

• Throughput: A network speed indicator, throughput measures how many units of information your network can process quickly.
• Bandwidth: The maximum amount of data you can transfer through the network in a given period.
• Uptime: The total time your network is functioning and available without issue.
• Latency: The time it takes a data packet to go from one point to another.
• Packet loss: The amount of data packets that never reach their final point.

Your analysis will help you adjust your network for optimum performance. For instance, if your latency and throughput data could be better, you may need to invest in stronger speed solutions. 

Create Alerts and Implement a Response Plan

Imagine a fire starts within your office. You never want this to happen, but you also know it’s best to be prepared with fire alarms and emergency exit plans in place. The same should go for your computing network.

If an urgent problem occurs, your IT team must be ready. Create an alert system that notifies specific team members when an issue arises. The staff should make a custom plan to resolve the problem quickly. 

Automate Network Monitoring Tools

Your IT staff is always busy, but you can expand their resources by automating certain network tools. This is one of the best network monitoring techniques because it detects and resolves a problem before it escalates.

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Running a business means looking after all your assets, from your property and equipment to your inventory. A good way to do this is by using CMMS software. CMMS stands for Computerized Maintenance Management System software, and it can offer significant improvements for your business.

Why CMMS Matters for Business Owners

CMMS software is like having a manager just for your assets. Its main job is to make sure your assets last longer while costing less to maintain.

But what does this mean for you, the business owner? Consider the benefits that a reliable CMMS can bring to your enterprise. Downtime is a word no business owner wants to hear. And with CMMS software, it will become a rare occurrence. The software ensures your assets run at maximum capacity for longer periods, leading to less downtime and higher productivity.

Streamline Your Business

Beyond preventing downtime, CMMS software offers several ways to streamline your business operations. This includes simplifying the management of facilities, fleets, assets, and equipment. You will manage your work orders and inventory efficiently, making your business run like a well-oiled machine. This streamlined process enhances your cost efficiency, contributing positively to your bottom line.

Optimal maintenance maximizes returns.

Another benefit of using CMMS software is preventive maintenance. It makes scheduling maintenance easy, which means your assets last longer and give you a better return on investment. Plus, it helps you meet all the necessary regulations.

Optimize Your Business With the Right CMMS Tools

CMMS software can make a big difference in your business. Its many features make it more than just a maintenance tool. It’s also a strategic asset that can help boost your profitability.

In a competitive business world, having a solid CMMS solution can give you the edge you need to stay ahead. Remember, it’s not just about maintaining your assets; it’s about making your business function better and grow strategically.

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Many people trust the contacts in their Microsoft Teams profiles and may immediately click any link they receive from what they think is a trusted contact. Hackers can exploit this trust by developing profiles almost identical to departments within their targets’ employment framework. Using these compromised accounts, hackers can send malicious software and put your business at risk.

A new Microsoft Teams phishing campaign uses social engineering to manipulate users into downloading a malicious attachment.

What Is Phishing?

Hackers use phishing to commit credential theft. Once they identify a suitable target, they lure them into completing an online form that requests login information. However, more advanced phishing campaigns use trusted software networks of the targets’ company to get unauthorized access to data.

Employees using business networks often fail to recognize new phishing attempts since they look like legitimate messages. These phishing methods put a business’s entire network, including devices, websites, and software, at stake.

How To Spot the Microsoft Teams Phishing Campaign

The new Microsoft Teams phishing campaign begins with a message from an Office365 account that belongs to someone claiming to work in the business’s HR department. The phishing message from the bad actor contains a ZIP file entitled “Changes to the vacation schedule.” This SharePoint-hosted file may look like a PDF file but actually contains an LNK file that contains DarkGate malware.

How Does the Campaign Work?

When employees receive the Teams message, they often have no reason to believe it contains malicious content. However, a known threat actor called Sangria Tempest operates the campaign, likely hoping to get payment from a ransomware deployment or sell personal information on the dark web.

The cybercriminal group uses the TeamsPhisher tool, allowing Teams users to send links and files to people outside their established network. The malware itself contains a disguised VBS file.

Once a user downloads and opens the file, the malware can collect sensitive login details and other pertinent information from the device.

In some cases, malware deploys more malicious code if it discovers that the Sophos antivirus software doesn’t protect the attacked device. This extra code accesses the system memory and stores the malware into the system.

How To Protect Your Teams Network

You can apply several methods to protect your organization from the new Microsoft Teams phishing campaign:

• Employee education: Employees who are aware of current security threats can avoid interacting with them. We recommend training your staff about the campaign’s specifics so they stand a greater chance of protecting your business.
• External contact avoidance: You can disallow contact with all external organizations using allow-lists in Teams.
• Internal device usage: Businesses increasingly require their staff members to connect to sensitive business networks using organization-supplied devices. This decreases the potential for outside malware to access internal networks.
• Link scanning: Microsoft Defender can scan and inspect links for malware detection that’s part of Microsoft Teams phishing campaign and other attacks.

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Data visualization is both a tool and an art that businesses can use to communicate goals, analytics, and other information in a simple but optical presentation. Humans naturally seek patterns within data sets. Thus, visual data representations that include color and intuitive measurements with fewer words are easier for readers to digest and visualize

Businesses can harness the power of data visualization to improve data-driven decision-making. Here are tips on integrating data visualization tools.

What Data Visualization Entails

Data visualization refers to the method of translating information into graphics. These graphics might include:

• Graphs
• Charts
• Vector images
• Videos
• Gifs

Visualized data makes it easier for the viewer to draw conclusions from the data.

When someone looks at a long list of profit percentages, they have to mentally arrange the information to make sense of whether the business increased or decreased its profits over the year. They must check and double-check their math to ensure they made the correct calculations. If they could visualize the data with a graphic or video, they’d immediately understand that the business experienced an uptick in profits without calculating.

Examples of Data Visualization Tools

Although visualized data allows audiences to intuitively grasp patterns within information clusters, this hinges on creating solid data graphics. Fortunately, you don’t need a graphic design degree to generate engaging graphics. You can use one of the many digital tools designed specifically for visualizing data.

Among the most popular tools are:

• Google Charts
• Infogram
• Tableau
• Qlik
• Wrapper
• ChartBlocks

Some options require subscription purchases, while others have free features.

How to Craft Engaging Examples of Data Visualization

To make engaging data visualization graphics, collect the information you want to share with a larger audience. Examples of such data may include:

• Profits by franchise location
• Social media analytics for an ad campaign
• Information about customer satisfaction from survey collections
• Completion time per project after implementing a new software

Then, choose how you want to present this data. You should use an intuitive design that the viewer can easily translate.

For example, a pie chart to demonstrate the profits for each franchise location might not be the best choice for that set of data. However, a simple bar graph for each location’s current and past earnings would work well to display progress and earnings by location.

Making the Most of Data Visualization to Improve Decision-making

One of data visualization’s most important contributions is its ability to inform and enhance decision-making. Going back to the example of the franchise locations, if company officers need to decide whether each location’s current management sufficiently handles the location to inform staffing decisions.

With a visual graph of each location’s profits, the company officers can identify and measure this year’s profits against last year’s. If two locations failed to meet or exceed the previous year’s profits, the officers could visit those locations for further review. In this case, data visualization tools simplified the complex data to help management decide on the next steps to meet the company objective of increasing profits.

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Social media is used by everyone these days, even hackers. Hackers often try to steal your information from social media sites.

Even though social media is a useful tool for businesses, it’s important to know what security risks it poses. We’ll show you how to keep your business safe and use social media in a way that doesn’t hurt your business.

Why Hackers Target Social Media Accounts

Cybercriminals still use phishing emails with malware to attack users. But comments on social media are much more appealing for several reasons.

Think about how many people follow a well-known brand. Hackers want to take over the account because they think they can use it to trick many people. The more people who follow a company, the more likely a hacker will steal information from innocent users. 

Other malicious reasons hackers target social media accounts include:

• Attempting to tarnish a brand’s reputation
• Taking advantage of users who lack security awareness
• Making money from selling personal information

How Cybercriminals Attack Social Media Accounts

What do these hackers do when they access a business’s social media account? Account takeover is one of the most common threats. The hacker gets your login information and then uses your account to pretend to be you or spread dangerous content.

Social media users who are easy to trick are at risk of phishing scams, malware like NodeStealer that targets social networks, and clickbait posts that lead to dangerous websites.  

Best Ways To Protect Your Business and Make Social Media Safe for Your Company

If you’re careful, you don’t have to worry about hackers getting into the social media accounts of your business. These tips can help you protect your business without giving up your use of social media:

• Be careful when posting pictures: Hackers don’t care about your privacy online, so be careful when posting to a photo-sharing app. It’s best not to let the photo show where you are and to use filters that hide any private information that might be in the photo. 
• Use multi-factor authentication: Experts recommend turning on multi-factor authentication to stop hackers from getting into your account. This is a great way to verify the account owner’s identity by asking you to answer security questions or enter a one-time verification password. 
• Be aware of strange phone calls: Businesses often post their phone number on social media. If someone calls you and says they are from your bank, tell them you need to check the information and will call them back. To avoid a scam, check to see if the caller’s number is the same as the bank’s. 

It is important to take steps to make sure your business’s social media accounts are safe from hackers to prevent cyber attacks.

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