Security and scams
Using your own phone or laptop for work, safely
Most small businesses run on personal devices to some extent. Someone checks email on their own phone, a director works from a home laptop, a part-timer uses their own machine two days a week. That is normal and it can be done safely. The risk is not ...
Why we send you security alerts, and which ones matter
If we look after your systems, you will get emails from us about security. Some ask you to do something, most do not, and after a while it is easy to stop reading them. That is the outcome we most want to avoid, so here is exactly what we send and ...
Ransomware: what it looks like and what to do
Ransomware is software that locks up your files and then asks for money to unlock them. Businesses of every size get hit, and getting hit is not evidence that anyone was careless. What separates a bad week from a very bad month is what happens in the ...
Fake support calls and virus warning pop-ups
Two versions of the same scam. In one, a page takes over your screen with sirens or a beeping alarm, a Windows or Apple logo, and a warning that your computer is infected and you must ring a support number now. In the other, the phone rings and a ...
Invoice fraud and payment redirection: the scam that costs the most
Of everything that goes wrong with email, this is the one that takes real money out of a small business, and often tens of thousands of dollars at once. It is not a virus and it is not clever software. It is an ordinary email that asks you to pay the ...
How to spot a phishing email
Phishing is an email designed to get you to do one of three things: type your password into a fake page, open an attachment, or pay someone. The good ones do not look like scams. They look like a Microsoft notice, a delivery slip, a signature ...
You think you have been phished: what to do in the first ten minutes
You clicked a link, typed your password into a page that looked right, and something feels off. Maybe the page reloaded and asked again. Maybe a colleague replied to an email you never sent. This one catches everyone, including people who are good ...