Our IT Helpdesk Tips for Solving the 5 Most Common IT Problems

OK, don’t panic. We can help. First, you need to tell your contacts what has happened and advise them not to open any emails from you until you can assure them your account has been secured. Here are some tips to secure your account:

• Don’t open suspicious emails or click on dubious links
• Inform your IT support provider about any dodgy emails you receive
• Get your IT support provider to implement technologies like DMARC and DKIM, which help to ensure that only genuine, safe emails make it to your inbox
• Employ a premium spam filtering service like Microsoft’s Advanced Threat Protection
• Implement email encryption for sensitive emails using Azure Information Protection
• Set a strong password initially and make sure your use a different password any time you need to provide one. Weak passwords can be cracked by hacking algorithms. Need a hand? Learn how to create an impenetrable password here
• Use two-factor authentication, where available, to prevent unauthorised users accessing your mailbox and sending emails. This could include implementing biometric passwords

For more on this topic, read our guide – 5 steps to better email security.

Most phishing emails ask you to click on a link or download an attachment. This enables the sender to access your data. If you receive a suspicious email, don’t open it, click on the link or download the attachment!

The problem is, it’s not always obvious if an email is dodgy – hackers are becoming increasingly skilled at impersonating users that you trust. The best defence is to secure your inbox so that emails like this can’t make it through in the first place.

We recommend installing Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection and turning on advanced anti-phishing features, including user and domain impersonation protections. This stops malicious links or attachments being sent to your inbox by a hacker pretending to be someone that you trust.

To find out more about how hackers use spear phishing to scam you, read our blog here.

Your network is probably running slowly because the system is backing up your data during working hours. To prevent slow networks and keep your team’s productivity levels up, we recommend using a cloud-based and/or virtual backup, such as Veeam Cloud Connect.

As well as increasing your network speed, this enables you to create a strong disaster recovery plan, as, in an emergency, you know that your data has been backed up to a virtual machine in an offsite data centre (and that you can recover it easily).

We recommend Exclaimer Signature Manager. As we are an Exclaimer Partner, we can create and manage your signature templates. We can create uniform, company-wide signatures that attach to your email (and those of your colleagues) without everyone having to create their own. This makes it quick, easy and hassle-free to change your signature in line with your department’s specification.

This depends on your mailbox and phone. Setting up the O365 Mail app on IOS is different from setting up the O365 Mail app on Android, for example. To secure your mobile mailbox, you will need to implement mobile-specific anti-virus software and encrypt the relevant storage area on your device. To take away the hassle for our clients, we can do all this remotely – just give us a call.