Senate Passes Retroactive Tax Relief Under Section 179

This is one time you may want to make a quick call to your accountant, then order up some of those infrastructure items you are putting off. A bill known as “tax extenders” if signed by the president will reinstate Section 179 tax [...]

Senate Passes Retroactive Tax Relief Under Section 1792023-08-11T01:47:43-07:00

Why Will My Company be Listed on the HHS Wall of Shame?

6 Reasons Organizations Fail to Encrypt ePHI

The drumbeat of HIPAA breaches in the media is incessant, and the refrain is the same: yet another PC containing electronic protected health information is stolen, so the organization is compelled to notify patients, Health and Human Services, and the media.  The Office of Civil Rights swoops in, levies a 7 figure fine, and posts the offender on the HHS “Wall of Shame”, resulting in a damaged reputation and loss of future earnings.

Ironically, had the PC’s hard-drive been encrypted, the loss would have been a non-event, unreportable given the Safe Harbor provisions of HIPAA.  And inexpensive encryption technology has been readily available for years.  Yet, 538 or 46% of the 1,171 Breach Notifications posted on the Wall of Shame stem from the simple loss of a computer with an unencrypted hard-drive.

So, if it is so obvious how to correct the deficiency that single-handedly accounts for the most frequent HIPAA Breach Notifications, why don’t more organizations properly encrypt and protect the ePHI entrusted to them?  Here are the six most common reasons we discover during our risk assessments …

Why Will My Company be Listed on the HHS Wall of Shame?2014-12-08T18:10:15-08:00

What Should You Do About IT and Network Security in 2015?

So what should you do at your company?

1.       Identify your most valuable IT systems within your company.  What is the most important data that resides there?  Determine your obligations to protect that data and how important is it that those systems are up-and-running.

2.       Do you have a current network/information security policy in place?  Once you determine which systems and data are most important to protect, developing your policy becomes much easier.

3.       Discover where you are most at risk.  A quick and easy solution is to have someone perform a vulnerability assessment on your system.  Alvaka Networks can help you with this.  Vulnerability assessments are our most common security service we provide.  It makes your work easy.  We will help you match the protection needs of your most important IT assets with the vulnerabilities identified in the vulnerability assessment.  From there you can easily create a roadmap for what you should do to protect you, your company and your IT assets from cyber-attack.

What Should You Do About IT and Network Security in 2015?2024-10-09T05:08:03-07:00

Here is an important tax reminder for Information Technology related spending

Under Section 179, your business is eligible to deduct up to $25,000 worth of equipment as long as it is purchased and operational by December 31, 2014.Phones, computers, software, office equipment and office furniture qualify for this deduction. If you [...]

Here is an important tax reminder for Information Technology related spending2014-12-02T17:33:00-08:00

What is Change Management and Why is it Important?

In the past two weeks I have witnessed a couple of contrasting situations involving configuration changes in IT.  In one environment the client has a strict adherence to the practice of using Change Management in all their IT operations.  In the other operation the client has been reluctant to embrace Change Management.  When it came time for one of those inevitable problems that occasionally hit the Information Infrastructure, the outcomes for the two firms was very different.

What is change management?

Here is the definition from Wikipedia based upon the industry standard Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL).

Change management is an IT service management discipline. The objective of change management in this context is to ensure that standardized methods and procedures are used for efficient and prompt handling of all changes to control IT infrastructure, in order to minimize the number and impact of any related incidents upon service. Changes in the IT infrastructure may arise reactively in response to problems or externally imposed requirements, e.g. legislative changes, or proactively from seeking improved efficiency and effectiveness or to enable or reflect business initiatives, or from programs, projects or service improvement initiatives. Change Management can ensure standardized methods, processes and procedures which are used for all changes, facilitate efficient and prompt handling of all changes, and maintain the proper balance between the need for change and the potential detrimental impact of changes.

A change is an event that is....

What is Change Management and Why is it Important?2018-01-29T23:25:38-08:00

Key Questions to Answer After Getting CryptoWall or CryptoLocker

1.       What date did you get infected? 

You might only have a few days to pay the ransom until it goes from $500 to $1000.  After 30 days you might not be able to decrypt the files at all.

2.       What type of files got infected and what do they mean to your business?

If the files are not worth $500 then don’t pay the ransom.  If the files are worth $5 million then you better be very careful and thoughtful about what you do.  The decryption process might not even work and if so....

Key Questions to Answer After Getting CryptoWall or CryptoLocker2024-10-09T05:22:40-07:00

How Do I Stop Being a Hostage to IT and the Six Reasons We Feel Like a Hostage?

Over the years we have seen many new clients come to Alvaka Networks feeling like they are hostages to Information Technology.  These people feel this way for many different reasons.  Most often the person feeling this way is the CFO, Controller, CEO, COO, IT manager or an IT technician for the most part in that order in terms of frequency.

Why do they feel that way?

It is usually because their systems were:

1.       Poorly designed

2.       They don’t work right

3.       The system is insecure

4.       No one knows what the last guy...

How Do I Stop Being a Hostage to IT and the Six Reasons We Feel Like a Hostage?2020-05-28T15:18:08-07:00

Some Good Questions and Answers on Backup and Disaster Recovery

1. Where should small businesses start with disaster recovery, whether or not they already have a DR plan in place? What is the first question the small business owner needs to ask?

I recommend starting with determining RTO and RPO.  If the small business owner starts here he or she will be off to a good start with the DR plan.  What are RTO and RPO?

         RTO – Recovery Time Objective, the time between the disaster and when the system has been made operational again.  Why is this important?  Different businesses have different costs associated with

Some Good Questions and Answers on Backup and Disaster Recovery2014-04-29T23:01:20-07:00

6 signs that you need a new IT strategy

1. Key IT constituencies are expressing dissatisfaction

2. Shadow IT is growing

3. Your IT strategy has diverged from the company strategy

6 signs that you need a new IT strategy2014-04-10T01:09:22-07:00

HIPAA-compliant cloud storage services: Due diligence is key to survival

Many VARs are looking to profit from health care-related cloud storage services. But with profit comes responsibility. Whether you build your own or offer another’s service, the U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and Health Information Technology for [...]

HIPAA-compliant cloud storage services: Due diligence is key to survival2020-04-29T22:38:59-07:00