We want you to be aware of new ransomware targeting iOS devices that could temporarily lock down your iPhone, iPad, and iCloud account. You’ll know you have it if your lock screen displays a cryptic message (usually demanding a sum of money) instead of the usual “swipe to unlock” slider.

While hiring an in-house IT department seems like the obvious choice for growing businesses, it really has many detriments to it. Having one requires the company to allocate a whole annex of space just for this department and budget for specialized equipment and software.

By Gaurang Bham, Technical Writer

The Fourth Of July is always a momentous part of the year; we celebrate the birth of our great nation in the company of friends, family and a nice barbeque! Top it all off with fireworks, and you’re in for a weekend full of merriment and memories.

Since Windows 10 launched last summer, Microsoft has been encouraging customers — especially those using Windows 7 and 8.1 — to upgrade to its newest operating system. The Windows 10 upgrade is still free until July 29, 2016. After that date, users who wish to switch will shell out $120-199 per installation.

The social network LinkedIn is the latest company making headlines after a security breach compromised 117 million of its users’ accounts. The initial breach occurred in 2012, but it wasn’t until this month that the stolen data was posted for sale on an online hacker forum.

We want to take the opportunity to invite our clients to Datto Drive, a brand new file storage platform presented by our business partner, Datto.

Datto Drive is a best-in-class File Sync & Share tool that will allow your team to store and collaborate on all of your files & projects from any operating system or mobile device.

Microsoft Office 2016 is here with a host of new features for Word, Excel, Outlook, Access, and OneNote. The new release succeeds Office 2013 and Office for Mac 2011, and while many will choose upgrade now or hold out for a future version, others with Office 365 subscriptions are getting the update automatically at no extra cost.

Intel Security will discontinue McAfee Email Protection on January 11, 2017.
Provident recently learned that that Intel is phasing out McAfee Email Protection, a service protecting many of our Exchange email accounts. We are already working to identify a new security solution, and will soon announce a replacement system.

Business continuity relies on off-site backup and seamless recoverability, especially in the event of a technical or natural disaster.
According to the International Data Corporation, at least 15% of small to medium-sized businesses are doing absolutely no backup.

Support and Updates Ending July 14, 2015

Technical support and updates for Windows Server 2003 end July 14, 2015, a date that’s approaching too soon for the 12 million businesses still running on the operating system. Those companies will lose critical support from Microsoft when it stops developing and releasing updates and service patches.