Blue Ridge Technology

Is the sound of yet another Teams notification about to drive you crazy? A new update will put a stop to that… and it’ll help you prioritize your tasks too. Our tech update has the details. Microsoft Teams does a lot for us: it’s a communication hub, video meeting tool, collaborative space for teams, an instant messenger, and a lot more. But we’d be lying to you if we called it a perfect application. There’s still plenty about Microsoft Teams that could use some refining or some polish. One of these things has been a frustrating inability to customize sound notifications — until now. No, this isn’t massively groundbreaking news. But for many Teams users, it’s still a big deal. Here’s what to know about the latest Teams update and how it can improve your workday quality of life. Notifications Now Have Multiple Sound Options If you work with headphones on, chances are you like to get into the flow of work. You might even listen to music or background sounds (we’re beach waves people!) to...

If you rely on Microsoft Teams for video conferencing, whether with your internal teams or with clients (or both), you might be excited to learn about an upcoming feature on Microsoft’s roadmap for Teams. The company recently announced plans to fix notifications and pop-ups during video calls — something that could save you from distraction and embarrassment while you’re on a call. To understand how this works, let’s set the stage with a picture. Scenario: The “Honey I’m Home” Most of us have been there: we’re standing in front of a room full of people or the digital equivalent thereof. We’re presenting in some shape or fashion, which means we’re sharing our screens. You’re cranking through your presentation like the pro that you are, and you’ve got your audience right where you want them. Then, all of the sudden, a little bubble pops up in the corner. It’s very much not about your presentation or your client or your department. It’s an email or a chat message from your significant oth...

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 ...

If you’re handling email marketing in-house, then we highly recommend digging into your email analytics over the next few weeks. If you see any significant changes or drops (like a higher bounce rate or markedly lower open, conversion, or click-through rates), then it’s possible something about your marketing approach is getting snagged in or flagged by RETVec. Google recently updated the way Gmail responds to spam and malicious emails. On net this is a good thing: less spam and scam email in your employees’ inboxes means less chances for the bad guys to dupe someone into giving away information or credentials. But there’s a possible downside to this update — and there’s a very real chance it could negatively impact your marketing efforts. Here’s what you need to know. Introducing RETVec Yeah, we know: RETVec doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. But that’s the name of Google’s newest weapon in the war against spam. It’s an acronym for Resilient and Efficient Text Vectorizer . (Speaking...

This is the latest trend in phishing attacks If you use Microsoft Outlook as your email service at work, you’ve probably noticed a weird quirk it has. Most of the time, if an email has an image in it, Outlook automatically blocks that image from loading. It tends to make fancy emails look broken, and it’s easy to bypass (usually you can load the images in just a click or two). Have you ever wondered what this image blocking business was all about? Turns out Microsoft has a good reason to do this. And the attack they’re trying to protect against is on the rise again. Here’s what you need to know about how seemingly innocent images can be used to attack your company and steal your data. Why Outlook Blocks Images So why does Outlook block those images? Well, it’s not just trying to ruin the look of every single marketing email you receive. It’s trying to keep you safe. There are two main ways that images could do damage: tracking pixels and bad links. Tracking pixels Images in email can d...

Take action to avoid a clever new phishing scam Another week, and yet another scam hitting the corporate interwebs, one that finds a brand-new way to exploit your employees and damage your company. We want to help you stay safe and keep your business free from the distraction or even devastation of a cyberattack. So here’s what you need to know about this new phishing scam, and how to keep yourself and your team members safe. The New Threat: Malware Wrapped in a Phishing Attack The new threat uses similar tactics to those we’ve warned you about before. But the specifics are different enough — and convincing enough — that this one warrants special explanation. Like any other phishing attack, this one sends a phishing email pretending to be from somewhere reputable. This time, it impersonates a very reputable tech brand, one that offices everywhere use and that employees will likely recognize. This phishing attack doesn’t try to steal your credentials, though: instead it delivers a payl...

Are you using a malicious browser extension without realizing? If you’re a regular internet user, chances are you’ve come across browser extensions by now. They’re so popular and so widespread that, even if you’ve never heard of them, you’re probably even using some right now as you read this post. Browser extensions can be a fantastic thing: they can enhance your productivity, make you (look like) a better writer, and help your browser be a more enjoyable thing to use. But browser extensions can also have a dark side. It’s important to understand the risks before diving down the extension rabbit hole — especially on business devices. What Are Browser Extensions? Browser extensions are little bits of software that change the way an internet browser behaves. They can deliver tons of helpful functionality, like adding in a grammar checker like Grammarly or a translator or making it easier to take and edit screenshots within your browser. A decade or so ago, extensions that blocked obtrus...

If you’re under pressure to take urgent action – stop and think At Blue Ridge Technology, we talk a lot about cybersecurity, and we publish about it on this blog regularly, too. Why? Because digital threats are one of the biggest risks that businesses, including our clients, could face. It’s vitally important to have strong cyber defenses in place (and we’re certainly ready to audit your hardware, network, and software defenses to find any vulnerabilities—just reach out today). But it’s just as important to train yourself and your employees or teammates on how to be aware of cyber threats. In other words, cyber awareness training is just as valuable as the best firewalls and endpoint protection systems. That may sound like a bold claim, but it’s true. The most common digital attacks don’t happen by bad guys brute forcing their way through your firewall. They happen because someone on your team makes a mistake. Your Biggest Cybersecurity Threat Is on Your Payroll As crazy as it sounds...

Your business is losing hundreds of hours to spam every year Email spam in business contexts is still alive and well. It may not be as visible of a problem as it was a decade or 15 years ago, but spam email is still alive and well. Your business is dealing with costs associated with email spam. Some of these costs may already be on yoru radar, but others could be hiding out of sight. So what are the hidden (and not so hidden) costs of spam email, and what can you do about it beyond what you’ve already done? We’re glad you asked! Here are some threats you might not know about — and mitigation strategies that can help you shore up your spam defenses. Cost #1: Wasted Time and Lost Productivity The first cost to consider is just how much time your team is wasting working through pointless email. Yes, your spam filter is catching quite a bit of the spam heading to inboxes, but it doesn’t catch everything. And, depending on your settings and how well your team trusts the filter, people may s...

Rein In Notifications from Chrome and Windows to Regain Your Sanity If you’ve been using tech for a few years, you can probably appreciate just how powerful, efficient, and even intuitive today’s computers are compared to what you used 10 years ago or longer. Processor speeds have increased exponentially, and other under-the-hood tech improvements have helped, too. But where we’ve really seen improvements in usability and intuitiveness is in the software and operating systems running on our computers. Now that they have more power available to them, software and OS makers have been able to do some pretty awesome things. Like the humble notification. Notifications: A Powerful Tool, But Easy to Abuse Take notifications, for one. Best case, notifications are intuitive and immensely helpful, letting you know about a crucial email, a new Slack message, or even something like a severe weather alert or a missing child. But like absolutely everything new, notifications have a dark side. Even t...

While most e-mail platforms offer scanning and filtering, this is often not enough security to protect yourself from spammers and hackers.. Basic e-mail filtering isn't sufficient to provide adequate spam detection, and they often allow phishing, and potential threats through to the network. Online security specialists generally believe that the number of email and phishing attacks are on the rise. Companies can improve their security awareness and decrease the risk of email threats by applying dedicated anti-spam filtering services. E-Mail Filtering: Preventing Spam What Anti-Spam E-mail Filters Actually Do E-mail filters use various security mechanisms to detect spam and dangerous e-mails. This includes blacklists of senders and websites included in spam. These mechanisms are updated in real-time to protect against newly created attacks. A powerful anti-virus engine also looks for links to malware and sites that hide the real identity of the proxy server. In order to allow the sy...