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We are thrilled to have completed our CE (Cyber Essentials) certification this week. Here are a few key reasons (and benefits) that made us decide to invest the time and money in completing this certification that has helped us to improve our cyber security, our business processes and security procedures.

With an increased cyber security threat facing our digital world, we decided to ‘practice what we preach’ and ensure that Cactus IT also follows industry best practices when it comes to securing our business and customers information and services.

Here are our top 5 reasons for CE certification:

1. Demonstrates our cyber security commitment

The Cyber Essentials certification shows to our customers, partners, and suppliers that we take cyber security seriously. It also shows that we have implemented the basic technical controls to protect against common cyber threats and that we have followed the ‘best practice guidelines’ set out by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).

2. Cyber security guidance and support

The Cyber Essentials program provides practical guidance, training, and support to help small businesses improve their cyber security posture and protect against common cyber attacks.

3. Increased competitiveness

The Cyber Essentials badge can help small businesses attract new customers who value data protection and cyber security assurance. We feel that our customers (and potential new customers) will value our commitment to cyber security and show that we could assist them in securing their businesses data and digital footprint.

4. Cyber liability insurance included

Cyber Essentials certification includes automatic cyber liability insurance for any UK organization with less than £20 million in annual turnover, providing financial protection in the event of a cyber attack.

5. Eligibility for government contracts

The UK government requires suppliers bidding for contracts involving sensitive or personal information to hold a valid Cyber Essentials certificate.

In summary, the Cyber Essentials certification is a cost-effective way for small UK businesses to demonstrate their commitment to cyber security, meet government requirements, access insurance coverage, and improve their overall competitiveness in the market.

If you would like further information on how we might be able to help your business with it’s cyber security, please contact us on 01943666711 or by email on support@cactus-it.co.uk.

There has been a lot of news chatter recently about power outages this winter because of the Russian invasion of the Ukraine. With my experience as a South African of dealing with load shedding, now is the time to plan for possible outages over the winter so that your business can continue to function.

Here are our top 5 suggestions to help prepare your business for power outages

1. Move to the cloud

Adopting a cloud-based business solution for your business can help you remain productive without the risk of losing work between or during any power outages. Using a cloud hosted email and document solution like Microsoft 365 could be a life saver for your business.

2. Investing in a UPS (battery backup power supply)

Using a UPS to power critical infrastructure within your business is a proven and trusted method of keeping your systems up during power fluctuations or outages. These ‘giant batteries’ vary greatly in cost and capability, so it’s important to speak to your IT provider for guidance on where to best use these and which UPS to purchase for your business.

3. Work from home

We are very comfortable with working from home after COVID changed the way we work. If working from home suits your business, then you are probably already setup for that and if your home address and your business address are not both impacted by a power outage then this might be the best and most cost-effective solution for your team.

4. Invest in an alternative energy source

Having solar, wind or a backup diesel generator might be the only way to keep your business open. This is not a quick option; it may also be expensive and will require forward planning. If you favour this approach, then don’t delay in getting your preferred solution installed and tested as soon as possible.

5. Reduce your energy usage (save on bills at the same time)

We can all help with this by using less energy and so reducing the load on the national grid to lower the risk of potential outages. Have a walk around your office building and turn off any equipment that is not business critical. It’s time to decommission those old servers, replace those old monitors and PCs with more power efficient current models.

Let’s keep out businesses running this winter, we can’t afford not to!

If you would like further information on how we might be able to help this winter to keep your business open,

please contact us on 01943666711 or by email on support@cactus-it.co.uk.

What is the PrintNightmare vulnerability

A bug found in all Windows operating systems allows full ‘top level’ access to compromised computers.

The biggest, currently known (as of Sunday the 4th of July 2021 – 11am GMT) attack initiated in the USA when the IT management software company Kaseya saw certain version of it’s software become infected with ransomware. The ransomware was delivered to systems using the PrintNightmare vulnerability that Microsoft has not yet patched.

Should you care

While the attack seemed to be initially limited, reports this weekend show that the impact has escalated. This included a BBC report (find the report here) detailing how around half of Sweden’s Coop shops have had to close after becoming impacted by software used by one of their suppliers.

It should be said that your system should have already been compromised in order for the hackers and criminals to take advantage of this bug in the Windows operating system. But don’t be complaisant, ransomware is very powerful and this threat is currently not patched!

What to do

Always keep a secure backup of your data (read here for information on that)

Disable the print spooler service on your PC and server until a patch is available

Follow our video on how to do that here

Keep your Windows computers up to date with the latest patches

Contact us if you are a business and have been impacted by this

If you would like further information or are a business looking for IT assistance, please call us on 01943 666 711 or email us on support@cactus-it.co.uk

Cactus IT supporting businesses

Cactus IT understands that it’s tough out there at the moment running your business and operating because of the current COVID-19 pandemic. We have been very busy recently assisting our existing customers to adjust to the new measures while observing strict Social distancing rules and following the government’s advice on how to operate in these conditions. In particular, setting up their employees to work from home in a secure and effective way.

To help businesses and as part of our COVID-19 business support package, we have released the following offers subject to qualification.

Free Office 365 licenses for 3 months

This offer is available to new Office 365 customers or customers expanding their current license count. The license on offer is the Office 365 E1 package that includes the following business critical services to help you work from anywhere and stay in contact with your customers and employees. In our opinion, it’s the best Cloud email service available and this license includes the following feature rich Apps:

• Office 365 50GB full featured mailbox
• Web-based Office apps and business services
• Microsoft Teams for video calling and collaboration
• One Drive and SharePoint for file storage services
• 99.9% Guaranteed uptime
• Working from Home and Office

If you would like to take advantage of this offer, please complete the contact form below or email us on info@cactus-it.co.uk

Free Data backup and Disaster Recovery for 3 months

With an increase in malicious cyber activity in the recent months, protecting your business critical data has never been more important. To help businesses during this tough trading environment, we are offering 3 months of free Data backup and Disaster recovery Cloud services when you sign up for a 12 month contract.

Our solution is 1st class and fully automated with data stored in the UK, meeting GDPR and data security requirements. If you are looking to secure your data and protect your on premises and cloud based Server infrastructure, we would like to help and are including free installation and configuration to ease our transition.

If you would like to take advantage of this offer, please complete the contact form below or email us on info@cactus-it.co.uk

Discounted Office 365 backup and migration services

Microsoft Office 365 is a highly reliable and scalable Cloud service including business email and file storage solutions. With a guaranteed uptime of 99.9%, these robust services come highly recommended by us as and are fully supported to be used during these difficult and changing time.

We are experts in moving clients data and mailboxes into Office 365 and are offering free migration licenses when opting for a 12 month Office 365 data backup service. Offering Migration services from platforms like Exchange, POP3/IMAP and G-Suite to Office 365. Cactus IT can plan, deliver and support your move to the most popular Business email platform.

If you would like to take advantage of this offer, please complete the contact form below or email us on info@cactus-it.co.uk

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Cactus IT has recently completed a network upgrade for a client based in Dublin with a branch office in Otley. We were asked to assist in specifying the equipment and sourcing it for our client.

The work was scheduled to be completed outside of normal business hours to limit the impact on the business. The main objective was to increase capacity and reliability on the network while providing a secure and more salable home for the sensitive networking hardware. We worked on site with the IT manager of the business to complete the works on time so the staff could return the following business day as usual.

With the addition of a battery backed power supply, the customer could be sure that normal operations would continue in the event of power outages and spikes that were not uncommon and could damage the equipment without this protection.

If you are looking to increase your network capacity or to better secure your existing investment, please contact us on 01943 666 711 or by email on bevan@cactus-it.co.uk

We are delighted to announce that the hard work and excellent customer service of our apprentice, Jimmy Arnott has recently been recognised by the Ilkley Business Awards (IBA).

At a Gala Dinner held at the Kings Hall in Ilkley to celebrate the achievements of businesses in LS29, Jimmy was amongst the winners after being initially shortlisted this month. Jimmy qualified to enter as he is currently studying Network Engineer Level 4 at Leeds City College whilst working full time at Cactus IT.

In order to win the ‘Apprentice / Trainee of the Year award’, the IBA’s independent judging panel were looking for ‘an individual who shows a higher level of understanding of their role and the business they work in than would usually be expected, demonstrating a commitment to the business and proving added value to their team or business‘.

We feel that Jimmy understands that ‘customer service comes first’ and that prompt customer service is important. He always responds quickly to email and phone support requests, even reviewing his own response times in our ticketing system. Our customers feedback on Jimmy is very positive!

Jimmy has impressed us with his keenness to tackle his tasks, even when it is something out of his comfort zone. That’s important in a small business and he just gets on with his work, ‘no problem’ for Jimmy.

Congratulation Jimmy on a job well done and an award well deserved!