We’re very pleased to announce that Richard Tubb, Business Development Director of JamesCash.co.uk, has been listed on the MSPMentor 250 2010 Edition!

The MSPMentor 250, published by Nine Lives Media, is now in it’s 3rd year and is an annual look at the executives, entrepreneurs, experts, coaches and community leaders shaping the worldwide IT managed services market.

In order to be considered for the MSPmentor 250, members had to be nominated during a survey — which ran from May through July 23, 2010. The list was narrowed down based on specific achievements (“Jane Doe increased her company’s recurring revenue by 50 percent”) rather than feel-good statements (“John Doe is a smart industry leader”).

“Many thanks to those who nominated me – I’m genuinely honoured and really appreciate that people took the time to do so.” says Richard Tubb.

Managing Director James Cash adds “Everyone at JamesCash.co.uk is so pleased that Richard and the company have been honoured in this way. To be recognised as an industry leader on a global level is an amazing achievement!”

You’ve no doubt heard the advice the Police offer to households on reducing the risk of burglary. We all want to keep our homes and belongings safe and sound.

Consider then for a moment – what types of feelings do you think you would experience if somebody gained unauthorised access to your businesses computer systems?

At JamesCash.co.uk we recently helped one of our clients migrate their systems from a peer-to-peer network to a Windows Small Business Server 2008 (SBS 2008) network with central file storage, e-mail and strong security.

Before the new system, security was very minimal. Users shared the same simple passwords, and these passwords rarely changed. Everyone within the business had access to all the files on the network.

After we had installed the new system, we helped our client implement a new way of working – a strong password policy, and a file system that only allowed users access to the files they needed.

So what is a strong password policy?

We know that weak passwords provide unauthorised or malicious users with very easy access to your computer system. A strong password policy ensures that passwords are considerably harder or impossible to crack (or break) – and that’s even with the extremely powerful password-cracking software that is available via the Internet today.

Here are examples of weak passwords:

• Is no password at all.
• Contains your user name, real name, or company name.
• Contains a complete dictionary word. For example, Password is a weak password.

In contrast, a strong password…

• Is at least seven characters long.
• Does not contain your user name, real name, or company name.
• Does not contain a complete dictionary word.
• Is significantly different from previous passwords. Passwords that increment (Password1, Password2, Password3 …) are not strong.
• Contains characters from each of the following four groups – Uppercase letters, Lowercase letters, Numerals.

As part of the 24×7 Health Checks we provide as part of our IT Support services to clients, we see very regular hacker attacks on *all* our client systems. The security systems we help our clients put in place, including strong password policies, ensure they remain safe.

If your company has not got a Strong Password policy in place – then why not? Are you ignoring that advice from the Police and leaving the windows and doors to your home wide open? Or are you being realistic, realising that external threats really do exist and you can mitigate this risk by taking reasonable steps?

We’re delighted to have been acknowledged by Microsoft as one of their top UK Partners on three separate occasions this year.

Earlier this year, Microsoft announced JamesCash.co.uk as their first Small Business Champions – confirming the companies status as one of the United Kingdom’s top young IT providers.

In June, our Business Development Director, Richard Tubb, was appointed as Microsoft Small Business Specialist Partner Area Lead for the UK – a role acknowledging JamesCash.co.uk’s involvement in the IT Community, recognition of their standing providing IT Support in Birmingham, and affording the company access to some of the top Decision Makers and Developers within Microsoft.

Richard has also been asked to be a speaker at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in Washington, DC in July – rubbing shoulders with 10,000 of the World’s top Microsoft Partners and being featured alongside Keynote Speaker, former USA President, Bill Clinton!

Richard will be keeping us posted of his activities whilst in Washington both via this blog, and our Twitter account at www.twitter.com/ITBirmingham

Earlier this week, one of our team managed to lose his iPhone during a holiday.  This raised the issue of data security because the phone, like many others out there, contained both confidential company information and personal details.

If you’re the owner of an iPhone, there are some simple steps that you can take to secure your data.  For starters, regularly backing up your iPhone through iTunes will make sure you have a copy of any data on the phone.

Next, you can enable the Passcode Lock feature.  You can set this to activate right away, after one minute or after five minutes.  Included is an option to automatically wipe the device after ten failed passcode attempts.  You can access the feature through Settings > General > Passcode Lock:

Once you have enabled the Passcode Lock feature, you’ll have to enter the passcode when bringing your iPhone out of standby:

If you use your iPhone with Microsoft Exchange, then it may be possible, in the event of your iPhone being lost or stolen, to remotely wipe the device.  With Small Business Server 2008 (Exchange 2007) this can be done through Outlook Web Access by the end user.  You access this functionality through Options > Mobile Devices > Wipe All Data from Device:

Remote wipe is also available in Small Business Server 2003 (Exchange 2003) but will require some prior configuration on the server from your IT support team.

When a member of staff leaves your company do you let them keep a set of keys to the office? Do you keep the security code to the front door the same so they can still get in? Do you let them keep company property?

The answer to all of the above will certainly be no, but if you don’t update your computer systems when an employee leaves then this is exactly what you are doing.

Windows Small Business Server allows users to access their email account anywhere in the world at any time, so even though they’ve left the company, they could still be sending and receiving emails as if they were in the office. It’s also very simple to set up remote access to enable users to continue creating and deleting documents, along with having access to your company applications such as Sage.

All too often an employee leaves acrimoniously and attempts to cause damage to the IT infrastructure such as copying or deleting files or emails; if this is not spotted and dealt with quickly the damage can be irreversible.

Fortunately all of this can be stopped from happening very easily, and all it takes is for remote access to be secured when an employee leaves. Within seconds their passwords can be changed and their ability to access your network remotely removed. Emails can also be re-routed to someone else, and their documents made available to view.

JamesCash clients of our IT support services should let us know immediately as soon as an employee ceases employment.  The sooner we are made aware, the less likely someone is to cause any problems, so please include informing us into any employee leavers process you have, and help us keep your IT infrastructure safe and secure.