A new virus is flexing its corrupting muscle on computers and users worldwide. CryptoWall first appeared in February, but attention surrounding the ransomware spiked this summer, when researches at Dell SecureWorks reported on it. In October, the UK Register revealed that 830,000 victims had been infected — a 25% increase since August.

Lost amidst the recent avalanche of news concerning data breaches, system insecurities, and other external cyberattacks was a joint Department of Homeland Security/FBI alert about insider digital retaliation. Defined as the destruction of data, theft of proprietary software, removal of customer information, restriction of access, and/or extortion by disgruntled current or former employees, federal agents say such instances have spiked lately.

Technology is often heralded as the be-all, end-all of our existence. Upgraded smartphone models come out every few months. Fresh apps pop up every week. New methods of doing business — in the cloud, with Big Data, or on mobile point of sale systems — overtake old ones on a daily basis.

Tuned in to any IT-related news over the last month or so? Then you may have noticed the avalanche of cybersecurity revelations. First, in mid-September, Home Depot admitted that a malware-based data breach had compromised the credit card information of more than 56 million customers — the largest retail data breach ever.

On Thursday, October 16th, more than 20 million people participated in the latest Great ShakeOut Earthquake Drill. Most surprising about this figure, though, is that nearly 10% of the participants exercised disaster preparedness in the Southeast, a region of the country no one ever associates with earthquakes.

One of the most famous quotes in the business world comes from Founding Father and early American Renaissance man Benjamin Franklin: “Lost time is never found again.” But in today’s digital-driven, connectivity-obsessed world, it’s easier than ever to waste time.

In late September, cybersecurity experts discovered the latest in a long string of software bugs that threatened millions of operating systems, including Mac computers and Android smartphones. The bug, dubbed Shellshock by researchers from Kaspersky Labs and other firms, was initially compared to the Heartbleed vulnerability, only far worse — while Heartbleed stole passwords, Shellshock was able to take over entire machines via remote code execution.

Scammers have been calling computer users claiming to be Microsoft technicians for at least five years. But the pace of the fraudulent phishing attempts hasn’t slowed down, and many of our CMIT Solutions clients have reported receiving them in recent weeks.

Here are some revealing statistics from the Internet security firm Symantec’s July 2014 Intelligence Report: of the billions of emails traveling the information superhighway each day, nearly 63.7% are spam. One out of every 351 emails contains a virus.

In the small business world, Intuit’s QuickBooks accounting software continues to dominate. When QuickBooks first debuted in the early 1990s, it quickly claimed up to 85% of the market, and subsequent releases have maintained and even increased that impressive share, with an estimated five million companies using the program today.