Starting last week, hurricane season is officially upon us. For those that live far from the East or Gulf Coasts, remember that you’re not out of harm’s way, either — severe storms have plagued the Midwest, Great Plains, and Texas this spring, while wildfires in Canada have devastated whole towns.

Last week, LinkedIn made a surprising announcement: data from a security breach that occurred at the social networking company in 2012 just now became available online — four years after that fact! Luckily, the only data revealed was member email addresses, passwords, and LinkedIn member IDs. But that information is often enough to execute the kinds of “social engineering” scams so prevalent today.

Last week, Microsoft announced that it was changing the amount of free storage available through its OneDrive cloud offering from 15 GB to 5 GB. In addition, OneDrive will discontinue its 15 GB camera roll bonus — and a 50 GB plan will replace paid 100 GB and 200 GB options.

Last week, Apple announced that it would no longer issue security updates or conduct software development for QuickTime for Windows, one of the most common video players around.

The announcement came without warning after TrendMicro identified two critical vulnerabilities, considered “remote code executions,” which could allow hackers to remotely log in to a user’s computer simply by getting him or her to click on an infected link or visit an illicit website.

With spring in full swing, severe weather has become the norm across much of North America. Heavy rains across whole swaths of the Plains, major flooding and large hail in Texas, wildfires in Kansas and Oklahoma, and even April snow in New England all remind us that the change of seasons also brings the potential for damaging storms.

Last week, Microsoft announced new plans to extend support for Windows 7 operating systems on certain Intel processors until 2018. But the flip side of that announcement was a quieter alert that major PC producers like Dell would not be able to sell new PCs preinstalled with Windows 7 after October 31st, 2016.

What does that mean for small businesses? Well, the end of life for older operating systems like Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 won’t come until Summer 2020, which is great.

Ransomware, a type of computer virus that arrives via email attachment, website link, or other online exploit, continues to present a major problem for businesses. Once a virus infects a host computer, it connects to illicit servers, usually located in a foreign country, that then transmit personal information like your IP address, geographic area, system setup, and login details.

The seasons officially changed on last week, and with warmer weather and more daylight comes a desire to get spring cleaning underway. One of the easiest ways to get that started is also one of the most overlooked: keeping the desktops of our computers clean and organized.

Cyberattacks are on the rise — and they’re not just coming from one direction. According to recent news reports, phone calls claiming to be from the IRS are targeting elderly people. The caller states that money is owed and has to be paid by the end of the day, followed by personal questions intended to ferret out further identifying information.

The official beginning of spring is less than two weeks away, but depending on where you live, the weather might still be downright winter-like. Still, mid-March traditionally marks the beginning of Spring Break season, when school closings allow many families to take their first extended vacations of the year.