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Stay current with the latest in technology and cybersecurity.
Tax season is a prime time for cybercriminals to launch social engineering attacks against businesses. With companies handling sensitive financial data, cybercriminals take advantage of employees who are overwhelmed by tax filings, deadlines, and financial requests. Social engineering attacks exploit human psychology rather than technological vulnerabilities, making them one of the most effective ways hackers…
Protect Your Accounts: The Power of Strong Passwords and the Risks of Untrusted Generators
Passwords are your first line of defense against cyber threats, yet many people still use weak ones or rely on questionable password-generating websites. This makes them easy targets for hackers. In this blog, we’ll cover why strong passwords matter, the risks of untrusted password generators, and how you can protect your accounts. Why Strong Passwords…
Recognizing the Signs for Smarter Technology Investments
Driving Factors in Technology Investment For any business, knowing when to invest in new technology often begins with identifying the key indicators that signal it’s time for change. For manufacturers in particular, external regulations are among the major drivers for IT investment. As Tom Jarry, Director of Engineering at Cooperative Systems, explains, “Our clients might…
Filling the Technology Gaps in a Manufacturing Operation
One truism that can hurt any business is, “You don’t know what you don’t know.” Often, over time, we work in systems we’ve grown used to, sacrificing potential productivity for familiarity and comfort. That’s what Tom Jarry, Director of Engineering, recently encountered with a mid-sized manufacturing client with about 50 employees. “We completed a Technology…
My DEF CON Experience: Seeing Security Through New Eyes
How often do we get the chance to go behind enemy lines and see how the other side works? Coopsys Security Technician Vitor Brandao did just that, attending DEF CON 32 this past August in Las Vegas. DEF CON is perhaps the most well-known hacker conference in existence. Debuting in 1993, the iconic event has…
Driving Technology Optimization in Automotive Retail
How Technology Optimization in Drives Success for Auto Retailers Technology is at the core of every dealership’s operations in the quickly evolving automotive retail industry, from managing inventory to processing sales and interacting with customers. For dealerships to stay competitive, their technology must not only function, but operate at peak efficiency. For automotive retailers, having…
Core Technology Needs for Automotive Retail Operations
Core Technology Needs for the Automotive Retail Industry Welcome to the first in our series of four blogs geared to automotive retail. This first post will focus on core technology needs. Future installments will cover technology and the regulatory environment, unique business continuity planning needs, and optimizing technology and the role Managed Service Providers (MSPs)…
Understanding Automotive Retail’s Unique Regulatory Environment
Importance of Regulatory Compliance in Automotive Retail As automotive dealerships increasingly handle sensitive financial and personal information, they fall under related scrutiny. The two regulatory and compliance standards dealerships fall under include the Federal Trade Commission’s Standards for Safeguarding Customer Information (FTC Safeguards Rule) and Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI-DSS). Impact of FTC…
Addressing Automotive Retail’s Unique Business Continuity Planning Needs
The Need for a Business Continuity Plan in Automotive Retail As the recent CDK incident highlighted, disruptions can halt an entire automotive operation. System failures and cyberattacks are unfortunate realities: therefore, having a comprehensive Business Continuity Plan (BCP) is essential for protecting dealerships from these risks across all areas of the business and ensuring that…
The Benefits of an MSP for Manufacturers
The Role of a Technology Partner in Manufacturing In any industry or vertical, a Managed Service Provider (MSP) partner offers advantages, provided you vet them properly to determine their area of specialization, services they offer, billing particulars, and related needs. That said, finding the right MSP fit for a manufacturing company can require a little…
Creating BDR Plans for Manufacturers
Building a Manufacturing BDR Plan In many ways, Backup & Disaster Recovery (BDR) plans for manufacturers don’t differ from other organizations. They need to consider continuing operations should a disruption occur, alternative forms of backup and communications, roles and responsibilities, the need for a formal incident response plan, and more. Perhaps the core of any…
How Compliance Helps Optimize Manufacturing Tech
Adhering to CMMC’s “enforced best practices” offers a wide range of benefits for any manufacturing firm.
Lessons from the CrowdStrike Outage: Why the Case for Local Cloud Hosting is Stronger Than Ever
More than ever before, businesses are relying on cloud services for data storage, security, and IT infrastructure management. The recent CrowdStrike outage has highlighted some critical vulnerabilities associated with large public cloud providers. This event underscores the importance of considering local cloud hosting services like those offered by Cooperative Systems. Here’s why choosing a local…