The TEC Report
The TEC Report
How To Stay Safe While Workers Go Remote - Garrett Snelling
The pandemic has forced business and worker to adjust. But is this good or bad?
While workers are both being forced to work remotely and forcing employers to ALLOW them to work remotely, there have been some eye-opening advantages for both employer and employee. Less commuting time, more time with the family, productivity is actually getting higher, and employers are starting to re-think how much office space they really need to be paying for.
Of course, with all the good, there comes the dark side of new ideas. In this case, one of the industries that has NOT slowed down is cyber crime. While business owners and managers are getting the remote activities figured out, cyber criminals are having a field day preying on the easy targets - employees. And the worst part is that it only takes one employee to make a mistake to allow cyber criminals the opportunity to infiltrate corporate America.
In this episode, we are fortunate to have managed service provider, Garrett Snelling Garrett is the CEO and founder of Circuit Saviors. Garrett will be sharing some ideas on what business owners and managers should be doing to take advantage of remote workers and also how to keep their networks safe from cyber attacks.
Garrett Snelling
www.circuitsaviors.com
garrett@circuitsaviors.com
Welcome, everybody to the tech report, the podcast that is all about helping businesses survive, thrive and create value, especially in our trying environment today. I'm your host, Brad Stoller. So this is really, man is this unique time for businesses. Many businesses have employees that are not wanting to come back to work. You know, the world is going towards more and more remote workers. There are some advantages to remote workers. But there's also some disadvantages. But whether you like it or not, the remote workforce is here. Just today, I heard on the news that Google has announced that all their workforce is staying home until July of 2021. Think about that for a little bit because there's a ripple effect. And that's going to be affecting your business. Maybe it already has. Well, today's guest is Garrett Snelling. garis the CEO of circuit saviors in Modesto, California. Garrett's company helps businesses understand the opportunities, as well as how to keep their company's data secure with all the increased risks that are out there. So Garrett, welcome to the tech report.
Garrett Snelling :Thanks. Thanks for having me.
Brad Stoller :Well, Garrett, you've been helping business owners with their technology in the greater Modesto, California area now for quite some time. And I love to hear people's stories and how they ended up doing what they do today. And I know our listeners love to hear that too. So what led you to become an expert in managing network services for businesses? Tell us your story?
Garrett Snelling :Yeah, so I started out of college and about 2011 I was getting my bachelor's in computer information systems and just kind of helping people here and their friends and family, word of mouth, people that just had a little computer problems here and there, started getting into doing some support for businesses. And I started seeing some of some of the major issues that businesses that don't have anyone doing it for them encountered. You know, they think that something is set up to backup their their servers, and there's nothing. They think that they have antivirus. They don't.
Brad Stoller :It's a hot mess, isn't it?
Garrett Snelling :Yeah, they think their network is protected because they have a little router that does nothing. Yep. So I just started getting more interested in that I got ubiquity certification for wireless as I was getting some more wireless networking, and just kind of constantly learning about the current state of attacks way to protect networks and you know, it's a it's an always developing field, you can never just be like, I'm an expert. Now I'm done learning.
Brad Stoller :Oh, most definitely. It's changing by the minute here and this industry. So it sounds like you've you've always had a little bit of a passion, I guess, if you will to. I heard that you want to learn as much as you can about this, but also, you're really into helping others. from what I gather that right?
Garrett Snelling :Yeah. Yeah, I just if I can do something to prevent a catastrophe, something small that can pretend to prevent something bad from happening. Those are the things that make me happy. Yes.
Brad Stoller :Good. Good, good. I'm sure your customers Well, I know your customers appreciate. But so good story. So you know, he's done a little research and I found that your clients they really do seem to like what you do. And I know one in particular mentioned that you take care of all of their technology needs, including their phone systems. So tell us a little bit about what you guys do at circuit saviors. And you know how your system can really help businesses. You know, especially right now we're and this world is strange with this pandemic going on. So how are you helping people with that right now?
Garrett Snelling :Yeah, so our goal is to basically be part of your company. We like to think of ourselves as a member on your team and not just like some vendor that you're outsourcing to. We're we're helping a lot of our clients by providing them the tools to make sure that when they move, they can move safely. We have screen sharing tools. So if they need to access their computers at work from home, they can secure VPN, and then Voice over IP phone systems, which are internet based phones. So you plug it into the internet anywhere and it says if you're in the office, those are the types of tools that businesses can use to if they realize they need to close tomorrow, they can flip a switch and they can go remote.
Brad Stoller :So it sounds like what you're doing with especially like the phone systems when you said you can plug it at anywhere you have an internet connection. That's kind of a big deal if you if the governor shuts it down in your state, if the mayor shuts down and you know you're in California so they Modesto if they say everybody, you're done, we got a lockdown. So you actually set so Okay, so the business in Modesto might be affected. But what about all those companies that do business elsewhere? They still have to stay up and running, don't think. Right? Well, that's cool. So glad. I'm glad that to hear that you're doing things to help businesses out because right now, it's a scary world out there. But this isn't asked to go on. So glad to hear that. So So I know that some businesses really hard thriving right now. And others. Others really have shut down. I mean, some of them permanently already, so there doesn't really seem to be much of an in between area right now. But for those businesses that are thriving, now, what are some key areas they really need to be aware of when it comes to their technology systems?
Garrett Snelling :So I think one thing to be really aware of is when everything was shutting down, and switching to remote back in February, March, there was one industry that did not take a break, and that is your malicious hackers.
Brad Stoller :That's for sure.. They're actively trying to get me.
Garrett Snelling :Yeah, their activity jumped, because they saw that as a massive opportunity, because they know that businesses were scrambling to implement solutions they didn't have and people were implementing things incorrectly. Also, when you separate out your workforce, you don't have the same kind of like herd immunity when it comes to like spam and phishing emails and stuff because if you get an email A suspicious email from Joe, in the cubicle next door you like, did you send that to me? Exactly. Whereas if he's not in the office, you're you're less likely to make the effort to go and check that. So that's one thing we're trying to make people aware of is that stuff did not taking bush. The the big thing is making sure that you have systems in place to make sure that if you're, if you're working remote, that those devices are protected. Once those devices, if you're protecting the network with the firewall, for example, when those devices go home, they're not being protected by that firewall anymore. You have to think about a different approach, security wise and then having policies and procedures in place with your staff, especially any of those stuff, handle financial transfers or anything like that. There have been in recent months, large wire transfers that someone thought the CEO was telling them to do. And once that money's gone after the wire, it's gone. You do not get that back.
Brad Stoller :Yeah, I've heard of that I got I got hit with one of those a few months back where I supposedly got an email from the CEO. And I didn't really notice that the email address looked a little funny, but I didn't know that until later. But yeah, it's out there. And it's rampant. So you got to be very careful today. So, yeah, great. So what about the businesses that maybe they haven't shut the doors yet? Okay, there but they're really struggling right now, just to hang in there. There's some vulnerabilities there as well. But what are some areas that a great technology program can actually help them get through this pandemic? And actually come out stronger?
Garrett Snelling :Yeah, so we've I've seen some really inventive solutions people have come up with to be able to keep operating the business remotely. But one thing that the entire world discovered in February that they were already aware of this, you know, platforms like zoom, where you can do a lot of stuff face, pseudo face to face. And you don't actually have to meet with new clients. And I think a strength with that is for local businesses, if that's something that if your business is able to operate that way, it actually expands your reach, because now you're not limited to your locale. You can talk to people on the east coast and help them with stuff that way. So utilizing that those tools, very helpful. We also found a free tool someone developed specifically for companies that have waiting rooms, called curb queue. It's it's an entirely free website that you can go and create an account. And people can actually you put a poster on your on your window when they come up in their car. They go to the website, they put in the code, they tell you that they're here. Send a message to you. You can text them through the website, let let them know where they are in the waiting queue and everything. Tell 'em Come on. And it's a really neat system someone developed just just to help people out this type of thing.
Brad Stoller :Yeah, exactly. And, and and actually, this podcast is an example of what you just said, because we're using zoom. Yeah. You're in California, and I'm on the exact I'm on Eastern Standard Time. I'm out in Pennsylvania and not quite to the coast, but pretty close. And yeah, it's just like a we're just next door. So yeah, yeah, it's, I think there's a lot of opportunities and for those businesses that really are just kind of, you know, really just kind of trying to hang in there. You know, nice, I guess from what I'm hearing is, hang in there, helps on its way but, but sometimes technology can help. And then you've got some ideas, I think that can really, it could actually save some businesses. Some of those ideas if they implement them and they don't have to cost Bloody fortune sometimes. So, yeah, that's good stuff. So I know the last thing on many business owners and the managers minds right now is either taking the time to review their current IT systems or worrying if they're worried about the increasing the cost of anything right now that we get it. So what do you recommend the listeners? Should they be increasing their IT budgets to take advantage of new and more efficient systems? Or should they just kind of right out the storm and hope, which is never a good strategy, but hope nothing bad happens. What What is your take on that? What What should people be doing?
Garrett Snelling :Yeah, we never recommend hope as a security strategy. It's not a good strategy inevitably will fail. Yeah. The real answer is it does depend depends on where you are now going into this. We don't want people to have to close the company because they invest in it. That being said, When I when I talk to people about spending, whether it's replacing that computer or hiring for services, we we like to frame it in this way you're, you're spending money one way or the other, you're just deciding which way. So you can spend money directly by replacing that computer or paying for that service. Or you're going to spend it indirectly by letting your employees work efficiently or have downtime because that computer that you didn't replace died. And so now you're paying your employee to work and your employee can't do anything. Or you're losing money because you can't, your boy can't work. So there's their spending going on, whether it's directly or indirectly, it's kind of up to you. We just had a client we started with just about a couple months ago, and about three weeks into us taking care of everything for them. Their server failed. And part of our services were making sure that if that server fails, we can get them back up and running in minutes and that's exciting. What we did, so instead of it being a terrible day for us and them because they're calling us to scramble fix it, I flipped the switch and went downstairs and had a cup of coffee.
Brad Stoller :Now, that's the way it should work right there. Yeah. But that's good to know. Because a lot of people are trying to, you know, they don't want to spend the money. They don't want to spend the money to only spend the money. So if it's tight, now, you're right. There's inefficiencies everywhere. And it sounds like part of what you do is get rid of the inefficiencies, people can become more productive. And take some of that money you're spending on the unproductive things anyhow, get your systems better now. And by the time we're done this pandemic, which hopefully that's not too long, you actually come out stronger, not weaker. Is that.. did I say that ok?
Garrett Snelling :Yeah. And, and it's also easier to replace stuff when there's not a lot of work on it.
Brad Stoller :Yeah, exactly. So, good point. So well, Garrett, I know we've covered quite a bit So far, and I know we could go on and on and on, because I know you've got a lot to talk about, but you know, they're going to kick us off the air at some point. What's one big thing that we really haven't talked about yet, when it comes to business technology that you feel is really critical that business owners know about right now?
Garrett Snelling :I think one thing that is often overlooked is training your employees to spot malicious or phishing email, kind of what we briefly touched on earlier
Brad Stoller :Yeah, good, but that's a good one.
Garrett Snelling :But looking at the different areas that attacking IT guys like myself, we like to look at the technical side of things. We like to look at the firewall and the antivirus and, you know, different like, how are these getting in from the outside, but your employees are actually your first line of defense? Because if that employee doesn't know not to click on that link, not to give that malicious actor their credentials right? If Once that's done, you're they're inside your network. So that's actually one of the most critical pieces is making sure that your employees know how to spot a fake email or malicious email. And they can stop it before it starts.
Brad Stoller :Exactly. And I'm going to ask you this question. I know you know the answer, but I want everybody here this. So how many employees does it take for a cyber hacker to get into your system?
Garrett Snelling :Just one,
Brad Stoller :That's what I thought. So you've got 100 employees. All it takes is one little mistake and they're in there aren't they, and next thing, you know, you your your stuffs been either sold or you're going to get that little notice about they want about 100,000 Bitcoin or something like that. Yeah, it happens. It's been happening and it's been shooting up a lot. I know that. Yeah. Well, cool. So well, let's talk a little bit about now your company now first of all, where do you actually Where's your services? And secondly, I know people are more than likely going to have some questions about some of the things we talked about here today. So then tell us how they can reach you. So first of all, what do you guys do and where do you Where do you service?
Garrett Snelling :So we are what's called a managed service provider. What that means in techno jargon is, we are we are on your team. So we come into your business, we look at what you have for your technology, look at what you need. We customize service plans, make sure that everything is taken care of. So you don't have to go out and try to find the right computer to replace or worry about is my antivirus setup is my firewall setup. We just do everything your outsource it department. The the range we cover, we typically operate physically within 25 miles from Modesto. We will go further if necessary. And with remote We can often do, we have clients that have offices on the east coast. So there's not we as long as in the US where we can we can take care of.
Brad Stoller :Yeah. Sounds good. So now how do people get in touch with you when they have some questions after they watch this?
Garrett Snelling :If you have any questions, you can email me directly at Garrett@CircuitSaviors.com. And you can also call our office at 209-215-4200. And you can ask me directly.
Brad Stoller :sounds terrific. So Well, once again, a special thanks to Garrett Snelling of Circuit Saviors for taking the time out of his busy schedule today to help us get a better perspective on growing your business by partnering with technology. So Garrett, thanks again for being with us here today.
Garrett Snelling :You're welcome. Thanks for having me.