Cybersecurity didn’t become more important in light of the WannaCry ransomware epidemic, it just became more visible to the average internet user. If like so many others, you’re auditing the security of business’s software, web browsers are a great place to start. Learn more about how your browser choice stacks up in your security comparison.

Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE)/Edge

Despite their nearly identical logos, Edge and IE are actually different browsers with vastly different security strategies. Microsoft’s legacy browser, IE, isn’t even fully supported anymore. The most recent version still gets occasional updates, but experts don’t expect that to last for long. If any website or services claims to require IE to run, consider that a possible red flag.

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Hospitals and healthcare organizations are usually the first victims of malware attacks. WannaCry ransomware -- malicious software that encrypts files until the victim decides to pay the Bitcoin ransom -- took advantage of this when it hit several healthcare institutions last month. With more malware expected to target the healthcare industry this year, following HIPAA regulations could save your organization.

For those who don’t know, WannaCry was first discovered in the UK. It affected over 20% of the UK’s National Health Service and created bottlenecks in hospital administration and treatment. Many healthcare institutions claimed that the privacy of patient data was not compromised, but the success of the attack shows how vulnerable these industries are to new, emerging threats.

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When your employees seek your IT security staff’s help to fix their personal computer (PC) problems, it’s often perceived as a productive use of everyone’s time. After all, employees must have working computers and IT professionals are expected to resolve any technology issues. What doesn’t get acknowledged, however, is that instead of troubleshooting technical problems, your technology support staff could be spending their time on more productive tasks.

Cost of fixes

According to a survey of technology professionals, companies waste as much as $88,660 of their yearly IT budget as a result of having security staff spend an hour or more per work week fixing colleagues’ personal computers. The ‘wasted amount’ was based on an average hourly salary of IT staff multiplied by 52 weeks a year. Other than knowing how much time is wasted, what makes things worse is that IT security staff are among the highest paid employees in most companies.

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No one can escape the news of WannaCry. The IT industry has been covering this type of malware for years, but never has one campaign spread so far or infected so many computers. Read on to gain a greater understanding of what happened and how to prepare yourself for the inevitable copy cats.

Ransomware review

Ransomware is a specific type of malware program that either encrypts or steals valuable data and threatens to erase it or release it publicly unless a ransom is paid. We’ve been writing about this terrifying threat for years, but the true genesis of ransomware dates all the way back to 1989.

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By now, you’re probably familiar with popular Office 365 productivity features like Skype for Business, and real-time collaboration in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. You might even remember a few time-saving keyboard shortcuts that will make your Office 365 experience a lot smoother. But even after all that, there’s still much to learn about Office 365. Here are some more tricks that can boost your productivity.

Declutter your inbox

If you’re having trouble managing the overwhelming amount of emails in your inbox, then using Office 365’s “Clutter” feature can clear up some space. To enable this feature go to Settings > Options > Mail > Automatic processing > Clutter then select Separate items identified as Clutter. Once activated, you need to mark any unwanted messages as “clutter” to teach Office 365. After learning your email preferences, Office 365 will automatically move low-priority messages into your “Clutter” folder, helping you focus on more important emails.

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Protecting your business from crime – both internal and external – takes effort. But with criminals looking to take advantage of you on every front, it's an effort you need to make. But where do you start? To non-security professionals, knowing what to do can be difficult. To make your challenge a little easier, we've boiled down business security to three basic, more manageable steps.