Blue Ridge Technology

Which ransomware payment option is best? (Hint: none) We don’t like to think about it, but ransomware attacks are on the rise, and that means the chances that your business goes through one are on the rise, too. At Blue Ridge Tech, we genuinely hope you never suffer a ransomware attack — and we can help you reduce your risk in all kinds of ways. But if you do go through a ransomware attack, it pays to be prepared. That means understanding how these attacks work, what kinds of new tactics and innovations the scammers are using, and so on. Most importantly, you need to have a ready answer to this fundamental question: should you pay up, or should you refuse to do so (and risk whatever consequences you’ve been threatened with)? The Best Answer Is Avoiding the Question Entirely Of course, the best answer is “none of the above.” If you can avoid getting into this situation, you should. That’s why robust cybersecurity tactics and cybersecurity awareness training are so important. Why Busines...

Don’t think your business is a target? Think again Botnet attacks are on the rise in a serious way. And whether you know all about them or think they sound vaguely reminiscent of the Terminator movies, they could threaten your business — not just the big global corporations. Here’s what you need to know about this technology and the latest developments in how cybercriminals are using them to do damage. What Is a Botnet? A botnet is a group of compromised computers (and/or other connected electronic devices) that an attacker controls as a unit, using some small amount of processing power on each device to function as a “bot” that can network with other compromised bots to do damage online. Think of it like those armies of synchronized drones that sometimes get used in place of fireworks to create dynamic art in the sky: each drone by itself isn’t very powerful and can’t do much, but a whole army of them can work together to accomplish quite a lot. Why Are Botnets a Problem? Essentially ...

This new search feature in Edge is a revolution If you’ve been in business for a while, chances are you’ve been using the internet for business for a while, too. Whether you consider yourself a true techie or more technologically averse, you learned your tech basics years ago, and that’s a good thing most of the time. But could it be time to unlearn some old habits? I remember learning from my father about a cool new upstart way to search the web: it had a goofy name and a colorful logo and it presented search results in a fun, whimsical way, with pages of results stretching the company name out into something that was unexpected for its time. I’m talking about Google — turns out, that upstart company has managed to do pretty well for itself. Of course, the Google search experience of today is just a little different than it was 20-25 years ago. And there’s all sorts of new competition, including new ways to search and interact with results. Which leads us to our topic this week: if th...