Prepare Your Business for Hurricanes and Storms With Our 3 Effective Models

What can often begin as a mild tropical storm season can quickly become quite active, with multiple significant storms expected to impact the southeast and Atlantic coast and the Hawaiian islands. And while every storm may not be a major hurricane, your business is at risk because our infrastructure is at risk, making it vital […]

Verizon Acquires Yahoo! — Trouble for Business Subscribers?

With Verizon’s acquisition of the Yahoo! core business services underway, subscribers to Aabaco Small Business — the business email solution from Yahoo! — face uncertain times. While there is no indication of what Verizon may do with the Aabaco Small Business services, the focus of the Verizon acquisition is clearly Yahoo! services that Verizon can roll into its upstart digital […]

Ransomware is Front Page News (Again)

Over the past several weeks, we have been aggressively communicating with our customers and others about the sharp rise in ransomware hitting small and midsize enterprises.  We have blogged about the need for preparation against attacks and for recovery just in case, as well as the full cost of ransomware attacks. While some organizations are taking […]

Resource Center Helps Small and Mid-Size Businesses Make Better Cloud Decisions

Westborough, MA – The volume of information about cloud computing can be overwhelming for small and mid-size enterprises as owners, executives, and IT professionals look for the best solutions.  To ease their burden, Cumulus Global launched a new online resource center to help SMEs learn and make better decisions. “Much of the discussion about cloud […]

Pokemon Go is a Security Game?

While the news coverage has trailed off, the Pokemon Go phenomenon continues as kids and adults continue to play, and the game expands to new locations. Also in the news, but with less coverage, was the security hole that gave the companies behind Pokemon Go completely unfettered access to users’ Google Apps and Gmail accounts. […]

The Cost of Ransomware

The cyber criminals behind ransomware see their efforts as a volume business.  Charge too much, and victims will not pay. Targeting businesses and organizations in wealthier countries and in cities where people and businesses are most likely able to pay, the typical ransom is often about $500.  More recently, we have heard of ransoms between […]

Be Ready for Ransomware

Ransomware continues to emerge as a major threat to individuals and businesses alike. Ransomware, a type of malware that encrypts data on infected systems, has become a lucrative option for cyber extortionists. When the malware runs, it locks victims’ files. The cyber criminals demand payment in return for the decryption key needed to release the […]

3 Email Encryption Options for Google Apps

In the Google Apps ecosystem, we see three primary players with integrated email encryption services. ZixMail A comprehensive message encryption service that includes user tagging of messages for encryption and heuristics and business rules to auto-encrypt. ZixMail also includes the ZixGateway of other ZixMail users, enabling automated end-to-end secure communications. Google Apps Message Encryption (GAME) […]

Email Encryption is Not Compliance

While providing a reasonable level of protection from inappropriate access to your data, the built-in encryption is not sufficient to meet information privacy regulations. Laws such as the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”), and industry regulations including the Personal Card Information (“PCI”) standards require more than data encryption. Privacy laws and regulations typically […]

Beyond Restore: Use Cases for Google Apps Backup

As we have noted several times in prior posts and webcasts, Google’s internal backup systems are designed to protect you should Google have hardware or software issues. You, however, are responsible for protecting your data in Google Apps from user deletions, user overwrites, malware, hackers, and other risks. We have identified several use cases for […]

Don’t Let Outdated Technology Slow Your Business Down

This article about detailing how outdated technology is slowing your business down is the first in a multi-part series providing ideas and guidance for companies looking to modernize their business with cloud and mobile solutions. For many small business owners, it is easy to put off technology decisions for more pressing day to day matters. […]

Be Able to Recover

Accidents will happen. And while accidents that damage or destroy data are more common, malicious attacks will happen as well.  The rate of ransomware is on the rise and large companies are not the only targets. Whether by phishing attack, advanced persistent threat, or other means your company is seen as having data valuable enough […]

Third Party Apps: The Overlooked Data Risk

It is easy to overlook the risks of third-party apps. You see a cool app and install it on your phone. You see the prompt asking you for permissions. It is not clear what the app wants to access or why, but you want the app. You click “Grant” or “Allow” and away you go. […]

How to Upgrade Your Endpoint Protection

Most malware and virus protection takes the form of an endpoint protection solution that resides on each PC or Mac. As the system accesses files, the content is compared against a database of malware profiles. These types of solutions are failing more frequently as the number of malware variants skyrockets and the threats get more […]

Spring Cleaning Past Employee Accounts

It may be the second day of Spring here in New England, but the kids are home from school and the plows were out early. Nothing like a post-winter snow to trigger the spring cleaning bug in us all. For those that work in the cloud, the start of Spring is a great time to […]

Atmosphere Digital: Retail Evolving

Cumulus Global CEO Joins XChange Events Advisory Board

Westborough, MA – Following last week’s successful 2016 XChange Solution Provider Conference in Los Angeles, The Channel Company (www.thechannelco.com) and Cumulus Global (www.cumulusglobal.com) announced the addition of Allen Falcon, CEO of Cumulus Global, to the Xchange Events Advisory Board.  As a thought-leader among born-in-the-cloud service providers, Falcon brings his expertise in cloud computing for SMBs […]

Cumulus Global Study Shows Technology Professional Development for K-12 Educators is Often Ineffective

Cumulus Global Publishes Survey Results on the State of Technology Professional Development in K-12 Education Our January 2016 survey finds that 48% of K-12 classroom educators feel that technology professional development (“Tech PD”) is not timely for use in the classroom nearly 60% of educators feel they need more professional development focused on integrating devices, […]

Cloud Competition Has Growing Impact for SMBs

Over the past few years, major cloud providers have been aggressively competing. At times, it’s been an all out price war with Microsoft, Amazon, Google and others lowering prices to beat the others. But it’s also been a race for new features and capabilities, as innovation and unique services can attract and retain customers. The […]