Entries by Garin Livingstone

Is Bryley a Technology Company? Sorta

May 29, 2020 in /by

Don’t get me wrong, Bryley loves tech. We love what it brings us, for example:

1 Access to our collective knowledge
2 The extension of our minds 1
3 Time Travel 2 — the time it used to take to communicate with someone else has been erased
4 Collaboration tools
5 Productivity boosters
6 Twitch and Snood

But Bryley sees its function as helping a business run smoothly, reliably, continuously. And our tool to get this done is technology expertise.

Bryley’s a Managed Service Provider — Which Is What Exactly?

A Managed Service Provider (MSP) oversees a company’s computer network infrastructure. MSPs deliver ongoing support that can include the setup, installation, configuration and maintenance of the network and its assets. An MSP can augment a business’s internal IT department and provide higher-level, rarer skills that may not be available to the internal IT department. Because MSPs are proactive, bringing centralized systems management solutions, an MSP can give unmatched peace of mind, that a business’s functioning is secure. 3 The following is not comprehensive, but are some of the areas in which MSPs help.

If you give a moose a mouse…It’s going to want a keyboard! (Or, moose on the loose.)

May 14, 2020 in /by

Today (Thursday, 5/14/2020) at 9am this little guy was visiting Clinton’s Central Park which borders our office. (That’s the Clinton, Massachusetts Town Hall in the background.) Apparently, he was seeking IT support, but was unable to press our video-doorbell. (Cathy Livingstone is demonstrating the appropriate video-doorbell technique, which can be challenging if you have a […]

Hat Day at Bryley…

May 8, 2020 in /by

It’s Friday, so something special is going on at the office. Kristin, Director of Services/Delivery, suggested “Fun Friday — Hat Day!”, which led to these pictures

If This Is Week Seven It Must Be Tuesday

April 30, 2020 in , /by

While most of the Bryley team works from the Clinton office, I’m physically distanced, writing at home. And as the days have grown to months in this work-from-home-if-you-can-work-from-home world, our perspectives change as our settling-in has changed us. So here’s a bit of remote work advice, for the times they are still a-changin’.

Can Machine Learning Save Us from Us?

March 17, 2020 in , /by

Among the top headlines in Google News’s Technology section today was criminal hackers use of AI (Artificial Intelligence) and its subset, ML (Machine Learning)1. Opening the article, I found a synopsis of a Tech Republic report, “Cybersecurity: Let’s Get Tactical,” in which the authors give ten ways cybercriminals are attacking with AI2 including

  • phishing attacks, in which, upon gaining credentialed access, automatic scripts can wreak havoc, including draining bank accounts
  • credential stuffing and brute force attacks, in which AI systems try passwords — and password possibilities — on many websites
  • bulletproof hosting services that use automation to hide the tracks of malicious websites, so they can’t be stopped by law-enforcement, or often flagged by network scanning tools

The fact is, it’s an arms race. Both malware and criminal sites would be pretty quickly and easily identified on a network by the nature of their activity. So the criminals try to disguise their malware in benign code and their sites in bulletproof hosting schemes. The way they keep the ruse going is through machine learning adapting to changing circumstances.

Cybersecurity Risk Assessment Becoming a Must for Investors

February 25, 2020 in , /by

In July the World Economic Forum (WEF) delivered a paper1 that argued for putting the muscle of investment into shifting the cybersecurity landscape. WEF/Marsh & McLennan reports2 that among weapons of mass destruction and natural disasters, cyberattacks are seventh in likelihood and eighth in impact as the greatest threats to global prosperity.

So Long, Old Friend

February 18, 2020 in , /by

January 14, 2020. The day Win7 died. Really it’s the day Microsoft stopped issuing free security updates and support for the nearly 11-year-old OS. No more patches. No more tech support for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008/2008 R2.

And gathered among us are some who are denying the inevitable: migrating to Windows 10. A world without patches is no place to secure your business’s data. Windows desktop OS vulnerabilities have almost doubled the past six years. 1 And one-in-three breaches 2 caused globally is due to an unpatched vulnerability. A breach could mean curtains for your business: the average cost of a data breach in 2018 was $3.86 million (each lost or stolen record averaged out to $148). Consider the risks in remaining without security updates.

Talking with Office 365 and G-Suite Back-Up Expert, Alex Courson

January 21, 2020 in , /by

Bryley backs-up your office suite data in the cloud for Office 365, Google’s G-Suite and SalesForce in partnership with Kaseya Powered Services. To better understand what happens in the cloud I spoke with Alex Courson, an authority on Kaseya’s Office 365, G-Suite and SalesForce back-up products.

Don’t Microsoft and Google Back-Up Everything Already?

Q: Do cloud-based office suites assume liability for your data? Is that something that has changed, or do you foresee changing over the years?

Bryley: Your Enterprise-Grade Networking System

January 14, 2020 in /by

“We are all cyborgs,” says Amber Case1, as we allow technology to expand our mental capacities. How much more is this true of our businesses? Having continuous access to information allows a business to thrive. Break that access and employee’s productivity is broken, too. Unbroken access to data is what Bryley delivers to its clients.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

December 17, 2019 in /by

I’m feeling pretty good about making the switch away from shoveling and snow-blowing the driveway at my house to hiring a plowing service. Today the truck arrived early and in minutes cleared the snow, so that a little while ago I was able to just back out onto my road.

It’s a nice place to live, but the road is narrow and winds around a stream at a good grade. The town has put up steel guard rails at spots, and cars make use of them. Two Winters back…