Many companies worldwide are scaling up their technical infrastructure to keep up with growing technology trends and demand. To help facilitate this growth, many organizations are seeking the help of a managed services provider. In fact, according to Business Wire,...
Portland IT Support Articles & Business Tech News
Cybersecurity, M365, Managed IT Services, AI, & Technology Trends for Portland Businesses
Be careful what apps you install on your android phone
Researchers have discovered more malicious apps on the Google Play Store, including some that are designed to steal users' personal information. The researchers advise users to be cautious when downloading apps from the Google Play Store, and to only install apps...
Starlink initial testing results
This week I received delivery of a Starlink for RV’s system, and decided to evaluate if it would work reliably for attending meetings and working from the road. I set the system up and connected my laptop wifi to it, and attended several hours of meetings with video,...
New unpatched Microsoft office vulnerability – “Follina”
A new unpatched Microsoft office vulnerability has been discovered by security researchers. The vulnerability, dubbed “Follina”, affects all versions of Microsoft Office from 2007 onwards. Follina tricks the system into downloading malware from a remote URL that is...
IT Checklist: 10 Small Business IT Best Practices
When starting a small business, there are a lot of things to think about. IT is often one of the last things on a small business owner’s mind, but it is one of the most important aspects of any business, especially in today’s digital landscape. At SpireTech, we...
Starlink offers new “service portability” internet connectivity
Digital nomads and really remote workers have probably heard of Starlink – SpaceX’s satellite-based internet connectivity service. Designed as a high-speed connectivity option where no other wired or cellular options exist, Starlink is a good choice for people...
Cyber insurance costs on the rise
We’re starting to hear from clients and insurance brokers that cyber insurance costs are on the rise, in some cases up to 200%. Of course, this comes with insurers cracking down on IT controls – making sure their insureds are operating as securely as...
Why “app registrations” present a security risk to M365
Let’s start by describing what an app registration is: An app registration happens when you allow an external program to integrate with your Microsoft 365 tenant. A common example might be allowing a scheduling tool like Calendly to access your companies’...
FBI engages in white-hat hacking
An interesting development came to light recently wherein the FBI intervened on behalf of people who had not updated their watchguard firewalls and had gotten hacked by Russian threat actors. In a clandestine takedown operation cloaked by a federal warrant, FBI...
M365 price increase reminder
We’d like to take this opportunity to remind clients about the price increases to all Microsoft 365 packages on a monthly term and commitment effective July 1, 2022. We wrote about this in our February blog post, please refer to that article for further...
Client Security Journey
By now we hope that our clients understand that IT security is never “done”. It is a constantly evolving and maturing process involving additional tools, training, and knowledge. This image shows the journey many clients are on with us to improve and mature the...
Huntress Active Threat hunting now included
Moving forward in 2022 SpireTech VIPSupport managed services package renewals will have Huntress included in the base package. Huntress is specialized Managed Detection and response software backed by humans that looks for persistent footholds, backdoors, and other...
Making Smart Business Moves: Investments into IT Infrastructure
Small and midsize businesses (SMBs) represent the majority of the market, but they often face unique challenges when deploying IT services. Finding practical solutions — from information security and data privacy to remote support and systems integration — can be...
Cybersecurity researchers agree: Russia has increased hacking
Multiple cyber news sources and email protection vendors have warned of increased phish and spearphishing activity coming from Russian hackers since the attack on Ukraine. The strategies are largely the same as in the past: using phish emails or social...
Reminder about CC processor change at SpireTech
On March 1, SpireTech switched to a new credit card processor. We wrote about this last month, so here’s a friendly reminder - If you are paying your bill with a CC and haven’t yet logged into our portal and updated your credit card number, please do so before...
Audio conferencing now included in M365 packages that include Teams
We learned late last month that as part of the price increases to certain M365 packages, Microsoft added audio conferencing as part of the base package when Teams is also part of the package. Previously, this was a $4 add-on – so this helps offset some of the price...
