The word ‘Community’ is derived from the Latin term communitas meaning ‘things shared by many or all’, which hints at our innate desire to connect with others. With the Internet being such a powerful medium, connecting people regardless of their locations has never been easier. Imagine thousands and thousands of people that are genuinely interested in what your company does -- that level of attention would not only propel but possibly skyrocket your business to heights you didn’t think possible. But before running, we must first walk. Here are five tips for building an online community for your business: Make sure your customers are passionate The number one rule of online community is that it should be a place where like-minded people are genuinely interested in your brand and are able to engage, if that’s not the case, it won’t be any different from throwing a party that everyone ignored. Make sure you have brand appeal, pick up on vibes your customers are giving off and figure out what they really want. The size of your online community isn’t what’s important, customer’s annual revenue and genuine passion for your products play a much bigger role. Loosen the reins It’s an undeniable fact that you have put copious amounts of time and energy into building and managing your business - so you can’t help but develop an attachment to it. What business owners have to realize is that your company really belongs to your users. This is a difficult obstacle to overcome, but when you are still clinging on for dear life and discouraging open discussion, you’ve basically shot yourself in the foot. Several times. Another rule to follow is NEVER delete a post (unless it’s spam), under no circumstances would you want to hide negative feedback. Online communities might be the reality check you’ve been looking for, so accept honest feedback with open arms. Create a rich experience Thriving communities are the ones that engage in numerous activities, the same can be said for online communities as well. An example to help put things in perspective is bird watching. Let's say one community only has support forums dedicated to basic subjects whereas the other community offers a feature request area that allow customers to give their thoughts on what they want to see next as well as a visual library on local species. Ensure that there’s always something for your community to do. Invest in infrastructure Dedicated team members and the right software are essential components required in taking on an online community - don’t pinch any pennies here. Growing the team and utilising suitable tech resources are necessary steps that (although nerve-wracking) need to be taken. Entice customers further by tying up all the technological loose ends, make it easy-to-use and devoid of downtime. Don’t stress over measurements We live in a time where numbers hold immeasurable power and people expect dashboards to show trending activity constantly. It’s a fact that measuring the ROI of an online community is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. There is one way of measuring your community’s value, not with a measuring tape, but by looking at the number of posts. If you're aiming to establish higher brand credibility, corporate integrity and customer loyalty but aren’t exactly sure how to go about it, simply Contact Multi IT! We’ll help you with any questions you may have about building an online community for your business.

Although some may have hoped that the threat of ransomware was on the decline, the reality is that it’s quite the opposite. Until now, attacks seemed to be targeted directly at its victims, but Microsoft warns that may no longer be true. With their discovery of self-propagating ransomware it’s vital to fully understand the possible risk of infection. Ransomware, the malware that locks up infected systems and demands payment to return access to users, has been steadily increasing its infection rate over the course of this year. Enigma Software reported that, “After staying steady for the last six months of 2015, ransomware detection has begun to climb; February saw a 19 percent increase over January, while March had almost a 10 percent increase over February. Then, in April, infections more than doubled.” And as if that wasn’t frightening enough, Microsoft announced last week that a recently detected ransomware software was found copying itself onto USB and network drives. The ransomware, titled ZCryptor, disguises itself as either an Adobe Flash installer or a Microsoft Office file to trick users into opening it. Once opened, it displays a prompt that says “There is no disk in the drive. Please insert a disk into drive D:”. If you see this after opening a suspicious file, it is most likely ZCryptor trying to distract you while it works in the background to add a registry key that buries itself deep in your system and begins to encrypt your files. Although previous ransomware iterations like Alpha Ransomware had the ability to find and encrypt files on shared network drives, security experts believe this is the first time a ransomware variant has included self-replication via removable drives into its framework. When it was first detected in May, Microsoft found ZCryptor singling out 88 different file types for encryption. However, later on a security expert analyzed the ransomware and found 121 targeted file types -- inferring that creators of the malware were continuing to develop its source code. It’s commonplace for ransomware to demand payment to be made in Bitcoins as they’re an almost totally untraceable online currency. ZCryptor is no different, demanding 1.2 Bitcoins (R6500.00) unless payment is more than four days after infection -- then it increases to five Bitcoins (R35100.00). Compared to other more complex security threats, ransomware is still relatively easy to avoid. Always verify the source of email attachments and website downloads before opening files, disable macros in Microsoft Office programs, maintain regular backups and update your security software. Still concerned about security at your SMB? It doesn’t have to be as difficult and draining as you may think. Contact Multi IT today for advice on keeping your network protected around the clock. Also consider looking at a Cyberoam firewall solution to keep your business safe and secure.

Anti-malware software plays an important role in the battle against cybercrime. However, it is not infallible. Cybercriminals are constantly releasing new malware programs or variants of existing ones, and it takes a while for anti-malware software companies to update their products to defend against them. So, even if you use anti-malware software, your computer might still get infected. It will be obvious if your computer is being attacked by ransomware, since you will get a ransom note and not be able to access your files. However, infections from other types of malware are usually not as apparent. Here are eight signs that might indicate your computer has a malware infection: 1. YOUR COMPUTER IS RUNNING MUCH SLOWER THAN NORMAL Computers infected with malware sometimes run much slower than they normally would. This is because the malware runs in the background, consuming your computer's processing power, bandwidth, and free memory. Your computer can also slow down if it is part of a botnet. A botnet is a network of compromised computers that cybercriminals use for malicious purposes, such as launching cyberattacks. 2. YOUR COMPUTER IS ACTIVE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT Legitimate backup, maintenance, and software-update processes often run in the middle of the night. However, if your computer is experiencing disk or network activity at night when one of these processes is not scheduled to run, your machine might be compromised. A hacker or botnet might be using it to carry out cyberattacks. 3. UNFAMILIAR PROCESSES ARE RUNNING Most major operating systems come with a utility (e.g., Task Manager in Windows, Activity Monitor in Macs) that lets you see what processes and applications are running at any given moment. If you notice that a strange process is running, you might be infected with malware. You can often find out a process's purpose by performing an Internet search. The search results should reveal whether the process is legitimate or associated with a specific malware program. If you are having trouble finding information about the process, contact us. 4. YOUR WEB BROWSER GETS REDIRECTED If your web browser is going to websites you did not request, you might have browser redirection malware installed on your computer. Cybercriminals use this type of malware to earn money through disreputable advertising programs that pay them to send traffic to specific sites. Having your browser redirected might also be a sign of a more serious malware problem — you might have a rootkit installed on your computer. Cybercriminals use rootkits to control computers. There are malware affiliate marketing programs that pay cybercriminals to install rootkits in as many computers as they can. Control over the infected computers is then sold in underground cyber markets. The infected machines can be used for all kinds of cybercrimes, including phishing attacks. 5. POP-UP ADS ARE CONSTANTLY APPEARING Constantly having pop-up ads appear in your web browser even though it is configured to block them or having pop-up ads appear when your browser is closed might mean that a cybercriminal has snuck a malicious program onto your computer. Cybercriminals use pop-up ads to earn money through dishonest advertising programs and to install malware on computers. 6. YOUR CONTACTS ARE RECEIVING MESSAGES YOU DID NOT SEND If your contacts are receiving messages that you did not send, your computer might be under a cybercriminal's control. Cybercriminals sometimes use malware to hijack an email account and send messages to every contact in the account's address book. They usually do this to carry out phishing attacks or spread malware. Similarly, they can hijack social media and instant messaging accounts for malicious purposes. 7. SYSTEM TOOLS WILL NOT OPEN Not being able to access or open basic system maintenance and restoration tools might mean that your computer is compromised. Cybercriminals sometimes include code in malware that uninstalls certain system tools or makes them inaccessible. That way, you cannot use the tools to remove the malware. 8. YOUR ANTI-MALWARE SOFTWARE IS NOT WORKING Having your anti-malware software stop working for no apparent reason can indicate your computer is under attack. Sometimes, a malware program disables the anti-malware software as a self-preservation tactic. In other words, the malware ensures that any future updates designed to detect and remove it will never reach the anti-malware software. DO YOU SUSPECT YOUR COMPUTER IS INFECTED WITH MALWARE? If you suspect your computer might be infected with malware, contact us for help. We can thoroughly examine your computer as well as remove any malware that is found. Multi IT & Telephony Solutions are IT Security experts and can suggest the best course of action to keep you and your data safe.