Jess
Hello, and welcome to the Theory of Marketing Relativity Podcast. I'm Jess Burton, a marketing specialist here at Epic Marketing Consultants Corporation. Let's talk all things marketing and merchandising with our Epic team. Today we're here with Ryan of Tera Technology Group. Hi Ryan, how are you doing today?
Ryan
Good, Jess, how are you?
Jess
Good. So can you tell us a little bit about Tera Technology?
Ryan
Sure. So Tera Technology is a small MSP. So for those who don't know what an MSP is, it's a managed service provider. And we provide small business helpdesk support to companies under 100 users. And that can range from server management to managing their backups to again providing that help desks, desk, support. We've been we've been located in Wilmington for the past eight years. And we have a handful of guys in house. And yeah, we're our our target right now is to focus on cybersecurity.
Jess
Awesome. And can you tell us a little bit about what your role is at Tera tech?
Ryan
Sure. Yeah. So I started my business eight years ago. I am I guess you can call me the the president and founder. I worked for another it firm out of New Jersey before I moved down here to start my own business here.
Jess
Very cool. So you guys are focused on cybersecurity, which I think is a super big deal now since everybody is working remotely and everyone has to be on a computer. Tell us a little bit about What you're going to say like generalize things people should know about cybersecurity, but like the big important takeaways that people should know about being cyber secure.
Ryan
Yeah. So I think there's a lot of different moving components to what cyber security is. And it's evolved over the years. So I guess I'll talk briefly about where it's come thus far. A lot of the cyber security and attacks or what these hackers are looking to target is through like social engineering, and through information that they can obtain publicly through through the web. So whatever they can do to impersonate somebody else that you may know, like a co worker or a boss, whatever information that they can find, and they'll try and social engineer their way into into your lives, right? So the most common way is through email. Right? We see it every day, their spam, spam emails, phishing emails that can look legitimate on first glance, but we always try and preach to stay aware. And I think that's, that's where cyber security has gone as of late. They're targeting the individual users and how they operate throughout their normal day to day to gain access to that information, and to get their way into secure information.
Jess
Oh my gosh, the amount of those like phishing emails I get, I'm like, I change my passwords. I'm like, how, how is this happening? So a lot of so we mentioned a little earlier about businesses and you are a small business. So is there anything that small businesses are really having to worry about? Specifically, just because they might not have the manpower of a large company that has its own IT department. So I guess kind of like what? What is it that you provide to small businesses that they might not get? Because they are a small business?
Ryan
Sure.
Unknown Speaker
I would say that we we offer a layer of security to small businesses. And we are thankful to our vendors and our partners that we have kind of incorporated into our package to give small businesses that affordable, safe, second level of security to help these employees who are really trying to just do the best they can to be productive. So I guess the primary answer to that question is we've aligned ourselves with with partners and vendors and solutions. Like it's called Inky. An email tagging system. And this will indicate which emails you should pay closer attention to, and which ones are neutral slash safe. So yeah, it's that's just one example but layering these software packages in a way that such you're protected on all angles, or at least that gives you the ability to further look into something before just clicking on a link that you were were unaware was coming.
Jess
Gotcha. Now we at Epic, we also work with a lot of financial institutions, credit unions to be a little more specific. So I'm just thinking about like, all of the massive amounts of just important information that they hold. Is there anything that any kind of company that my I'm thinking of like, we have a couple other clients who are CPA firms and, you know, lawyers and stuff, is there anything that businesses that do hold very, I can't think of the word right now, very like private information need to know about maintaining the highest level of security?
Ryan
I think the best thing that companies can do internally is educate. Right? So you know the saying you're only as strong as your weakest link. That is so true when it comes to cybersecurity and how people are approached. So I think education in house in in determining what you're reading, email wise or PDF attachments that come through before you just click into it or welcome a uninvited link that comes across your email, just second guess, reread the Email, make sure that the email address is a person that you actually know. And not a phony email that may be one letter off from somebody's name. It's as simple as that. So I think education is is can be can help small businesses tremendously.
Jess
That is such a great point. I know. I like at least like my parents are not old by any matter of it. But there are times where my mom has said, like, I didn't order anything from Amazon. Why are they asking me to change my password? And I like click on the email, and it's like, I'm like, Mom, it's like 18 letters and four numbers, and it's this. I was like, this is an Amazon, someone that's like, trying to get your information from you.
Ryan
Sure, and it looks so harmless, right? The most common ones we see are, you know, reset your password to continue your account access right. There's a lot of Comcast phony Comcast Amazons that people just buy into and it's, it's staying vigilant. There's making sure that what you're clicking on is legitimate.
Jess
I totally agree with you on that one. I'm just sorry, this just popped into my head since I do social media. I'm just kind of wanted to pick your brain a little bit about I guess it was was it a week ago, two weeks ago? That big Twitter hack that happened? Um, that was just it seems so crazy that that many I want it like high profile accounts would get. I guess the word is compromised. How does that even how does that even happen?
Ryan
Most likely, it kind of stems from what we were just talking about. impersonation, right. So From from what I had read about the the attack some they were actually miners had actually targeted these these high profile accounts and they were able to gain access through a essentially sending out a link directly targeting those people. So much so that they obtained enough information to compromise the account. So, I mean, it can essentially happen to anybody I mean, and, you know, with what they're being charged with, it's pretty it's pretty wild. What Well, I mean, what they were able to accomplish and and what we were able to do you know, such a high for high profile people that they targeted, they targeted, it could have caused more damage than what they did. So it just goes to show you that no matter who you are You can be targeted and they can they can gain access if they really wanted to.
Jess
Absolutely. I think it's crazy that like these the people who did it were minors that there are kids that are smarter than and don't get me wrong. I'm sure that these people pay teams to keep their social media and their stuff on lockdown. But all it took was like a cup. I just think of like, the high schoolers that I teach, I'm like, Oh my gosh, like if five of them got together in a room, like would they be smart enough to do something like that? So do you so with, um, you know, I always think about like here at Epic. We all use LastPass as like a password protection program. It generates random passwords for us. If I update something that's like we that's like an account, we share updates everybody else's Are I can't remember what question. Oh, um, so it's something like that like a LastPass like a good option to kind of help keep yourpasswords and that kind of information to secure.
Ryan
I would highly recommend something like that for the average user. As you mentioned, there's a number of different products out there ranging from Masterpass, One Password to Keeper to LastPass. But we so for the average individual, yes, I would recommend using something like that as a more secure way to keep your strong passwords. Also as a small business, we try to provide a service to our clients, which is built into something that we use internally, which gives them the access to added to essentially our notetaking secure portal so that they can compile all their information through their business, usernames, email passwords through all through our documentation. So it's something that we provide to our clients and it's something that they can use in their, their day to day life outside of work as well.
Jess
Nice. Going off of that. So, the cloud, I know, I found myself having to like explain it to people because they don't like, I literally don't know how to explain it to my parents without them asking me four million questions. But I feel like sometimes, like, I'm gonna put an age limit on there. But if you're under a specific age, you just upload everything to the quote unquote cloud. Is that something that is? I guess is that like a best practice for in like, across the board, like I know like I 100% have for bajillions pictures on my phone. So I upload everything to my like Amazon photos just because I don't want to lose them, which I don't have any photos that I would care about anyone else seeing. So it doesn't really matter to me if they get out, but like, there's like baby pictures of like my nieces and nephews on there. But like, you know, what about the people who upload maybe like, I don't even know, I can't even think of like an important document important documents to the cloud. Um, is there a, I guess intelligent way to go about doing that or is just the cloud this all encompassing, super secure system?
Ryan
I wouldn't go that far. But I think I think companies are getting there.
Jess
Ok
Ryan
To your point. You've heard the term cloud all the time to take me to the cloud. And it's just a generic word for like computing services that are that you don't see. Low and behold, they're across data centers that are massive and redundant. And without going into detail, it's just back to your question. Is it the end all be all? Is it secure enough? Should we just put everything to the cloud? I, I'm more convinced about the cloud now than I ever have been. And I will continue to say that as things continue to innovate, right? I think the one thing that you should consider before just being sold on quote unquote, the cloud, whatever that may be, whether that's Google Drive, whether that's Dropbox, whether that's Salesforce, right? You have to take into consideration the backbone of the company providing that service or solution, right. And what I mean by that is the company that's hosting that service, or that solution, are they taking ample steps to do the best they can to provide the security that you need? And that's hard to gauge, right?
It's, I would say stick with the big, the bigger companies, right? Because they are doing all that they can because they're most likely targeted most. But know that they are innovating, and they are continuing to protect and beef up their security to protect information and data in the cloud. So yeah, I think it's I think it really boils down to what you're looking for. What do you you know, what is the small business, I would recommend some companies go to the cloud. And some companies maybe hang back or do a hybrid approach to where they have some some information stored locally and other other information slash data in the cloud.
Jess
I think I like that. I like the hybrid model. I've worked for super small businesses, and I've worked for bigger, larger companies. And I feel like a hybrid model is I don't want to say the safest but having been through like complete, like, utter failures of like computers and not being able to pull stuff off them and then I'm like crying because you've just lost like months of work. And then like we had someone and a company, I work for the, they change the passwords or whatever on some of the stuff and we like couldn't get into anything. And it was
Ryan
I can imagine,
Jess
I would have given my left kidney to get the passwords. Because it seems like everybody when you're requesting new passwords for important stuff, everybody wants to put you on a waiting list and sweat you out to make sure that it's all you're a legit person.
Ryan
Sure, sure. But I will I will say that they, you know, gaining easy access is not always the best way, right? Because as we're having this conversation, you think about it, always constantly changing passwords or making them more secure is is how to kind of stay one step ahead.
Jess
Absolutely. I always used to like laugh like, my mom and I my mom like for Christmas, one year bought me like a membership to like the zoo or something. And I had to, like, update my information so that they could like send me tickets. And I asked her, I was like, hey, can you give me the password? And she's like, hold on, I'll text it to you and like me thinking, but I'm like, what should just be like a phrase and a number, right? No, this woman had like a 25 character password that had like 14 symbols and three number and like, I was like, I would have never guessed this and she's like, well, that's why she's like, I use all of this of it. No one I'm like, Mom, it's for the zoo membership. I can only imagin her email password is
Ryan
That makes me proud. Somebody taught her right?
Jess
Where she works and it so she like gets it and we all kind of roll her eyes at her. But there are some times where I'm like, No, no, she does know what she's talking about.
Ryan
That's funny.
Jess
Um, so before we finish up our podcast here is there Anything else that you think, especially right now, in the world with all of the craziness that is happening? If there are any things, any cybersecurity things people need to be aware about? Are there any risks? I know a lot of our, like the credit unions that we have been putting out stuff about, you know, their people being aware of, you know, stimulus payment. I don't even know just like false stimulus payments, stuff, false, Social Security stuff, false, all that kind of stuff. Is there anything that people should be aware of right now? All right.
Ryan
There's always stuff Jess. There's always something.
Jess
I'm sure
Ryan
um, I mean, I specifically at this point, like, as you mentioned, the stimulus we're seeing a lot of COVID stuff, right. So emails impersonnating. Where to get COVID testing or like, click on the link. It's whatever people can think of to get to get somebody to click on anything, no matter what that be. They're doing it. And it's it's just hard to continue to say, you know, be aware. But, you know, when in doubt the lead. That's what I what I say to people. I mean, if there's somebody who is really trying to get in touch with you, they, they'll find you at least the people who you want to get in touch with you. I don't know. I mean, there's there's additional security in terms of software that people can use. Because a lot of times what happens is, if people do click on links. I don't know if you're aware of ransomware Jess if you ever,
Jess
It sounds extremely familiar, and I feel like I probably learned about it. for like five minutes in a computer,
Ryan
it was. So I'll talk briefly about it. So it's a way that hackers can essentially infiltrate a network. And a lot of times it stems from a PDF or an attachment in an email, and people will double click on it, and they'll try and it'll give them a prompt and they'll enable it or install it. And people think they don't think much of it. And next thing you know, there's a program that's monitoring your network. Well, this has happened. This there was a huge wave. It's still ongoing, but last year, it was a really big kick. Specifically, the ball Baltimore, the city of Baltimore was targeted and had to pay some crazy number amount of money to encrypt their data because they were held ransom. Just by somebody clicking on this this link, and there's specific programs, specifically anti-malware and anti-virus programs that you can download, which will be helpful in these specific situations. So even for the average user, they can either download the software to, again, add another layer of security or the latest push has been virtual private networks or VPNs. Are you familiar with with that Jess?
Jess
I am. I'm familiar with the term not necessarily the nitty gritty of what it is.
Ryan
So a lot of times people think of VPN they think of business business only. It's how people tap into their office network. Well, I will, I will say to users who are just concerned about security in general, there are costly solutions, one being Mozilla VPN and the other one being ExpressVPN. And what this does is when you're out and about Working say at a public public, either a cafe or wherever you may be. The security is hindered, right? So they say there there's a vulnerability there. But if you use a VPN, it secures traffic which enhances the level of security when you're browsing or even just doing email so I know for a fact that Mozilla it's it's a couple bucks a month but it's something worth purchasing if you're really concerned. And if you're working remotely or in public spaces a lot with free Wi Fi.
Jess
I feel like I learned so much that I feel like I needed to know that because I like we all work from home. So like I every once in a while like if I don't feel like sitting in my office, I'll like go like to start well before COVID before COVID happened, I go hang out in like a PureBread or Starbucks or like a For a couple hours just like you get like a break or even like a library, which libraries are very underestimated nowadays, I love the library. Um, but yeah, I feel like that is something super important to know. Before I let you go, I want you to let everybody know where they can find you. They can connect with you how to contact you if they have if they're local to the Delaware area. And they're in need of their own personal IT department.
Ryan
Sure yeah. So you can either email us or drop us a line. So our email is help@teratechgroup.com. It's teratechgroup.com And or give us a call at any time and we'd be more than happy to help whether it's questions or small businesses need an assessment or want to see how good their security is our numbers 302-299-3056 so Jess I want to say thank you again for having me on today.
Jess
No problem. Thank you. I feel like I've like learned a ton today. Thank you all for tuning in this week. We hope this theory is relative to your marketing needs. Make sure you subscribe to get notified of our latest episodes.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai