If your business is like most, you probably get your voice and data services from one provider. This is not a problem as long as that provider never goes down. Unfortunately, the likelihood that this provider has an outage is not an “if” scenario, but a “when” scenario.

The question you should consider now is what will you do when that inevitable day arrives. With some easy-to-implement steps, you can prevent your business from coming to a screeching halt when your carrier crashes. The key to a preventative plan is to set up a redundant system. Don’t let the name fool you. You don’t need to double the telephony and data bandwidth you currently use; you just need to set up your current system with some built in fail-safes.

Here are some simple things you can do to assure that your voice and data services don’t simultaneously go down.

1. The easiest approach to protect your business is to use different carriers for your voice and data services. The odds of both carriers having a major network outage at the same time are extremely rare. Therefore, even if one carrier goes down, you will  still be able to conduct business via the live service from the alternate carrier. To take advantage of this approach, when installing a T-1 or a PRI for voice, you should always keep a few POTS (plain old telephone service) lines available in the event of a carrier crash.  If the T-1 fails you can still receive calls and make calls on the POTS lines.

2. The phone service for most office buildings connects at what is called the “entrance facility,” also known as the Dmarc or MPOE (minimum point of entry).  If your building has more than one entrance facility (and most do), divide your service up so that one carrier is providing service through one entrance facility and another provider through a different entrance facility.

3. If you have more than one T-1, make sure they are on 2 different DS3’s.  A T-1 can crash for many reasons,  with the two most common being your DS3 goes out or a smart jack goes bad and requires the LEC to either replace the card in the smart jack or replace the smart jack altogether.

4. Have the carrier map your circuits to different POPS or DS3’s —  this will minimize your downtime.

5. As a back-up to your Internet, make sure you follow the same rules for voice when it comes to data.  If you have more than one T-1 of Internet, make sure your T-1s are on two different DS3′s or POPS (point of presence). For under $100 a month we recommend you install a cable or DSL Internet connection as a back-up.

6. Make sure your phone/data room has plenty of ventilation and the room is kept at 70° or lower.  Without proper ventilation and cooling your equipment can easily overheat. Once this occurs, aside from taking your system down, you could cause permanent damage to your hardware. Then you will have to deal with financial consequences on two fronts: lost productivity/profits and replacing expensive equipment.

7. Take advantage of a service that carriers offer called DTO (direct trunk overflow).  If your voice circuit fails, your calls will automatically be rerouted to another location or POTS lines at your location.

8. Make sure your phone system has a battery back-up.

If one of the carriers you work with does go down, it may not be business as usual, but at least, with these measures in place, you will still be in business.

Businesses rely on the internet for everything from research to booking travel to interacting with partners.  Despite all the amazing services, applications, and knowledge found on the Web, it presents a risk to your business.  Malware, a computer application intentionally created to inflict damage by stealing data, denying services, or performing other activities that can disrupt your business, is increasingly costing businesses time, money and even reputation.  Additionally, the internet provides opportunities for employees to spend unauthorized time visiting inappropriate websites.

Using the internet is not optional.  However, you must take precautions to protect your business.  An outsourced security solution, Integra Telecom’s Cloud Firewall Service (CFS), delivers the protection your business requires without demanding a capital expenditure or a staff of Internet security experts. CFS provides a single point of control that monitors and protects your business from the harm of dangerous Internet incidents. It is available in several configurations that, depending upon your needs, can contain:

• An application-aware firewall

• Website filtering

• Antivirus and anti-spyware

• Intrusion detection and prevention

• File filtering

• Customizable reports

• A VPN client for remote users

The elements that make up Integra’s Cloud Firewall Service deliver a highly-secure perimeter around your business’s Internet access. What has been touched upon here is a system designed to keep your business dramatically safer from the Internet’s evolving threats. Because malware is constantly becoming more complex and evasive, businesses absolutely need to consider a security deployment that is robust and stays on top and ahead of ever-changing malicious attacks. CFS is a comprehensive outsourced Internet security service that can be utilized for a fraction of the cost of in-house security solutions. You can rely on Integra to thoroughly oversee and update these services and relentlessly defend your network from all Internet threats.

Who is Integra Telecom? They connect businesses by providing business-grade networking, communications and cloud solutions to thousands of business and carrier customers in 11 Western states, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, Utah and Washington. The company owns and operates a nationally acclaimed best-in-class fiber-optic network consisting of a 5,000-mile high-speed long-haul network, a 3,000-mile metropolitan access network, and more than 1,700 fiber-fed buildings.

If you would like more information on how your business can benefit from Integra’s Cloud Firewall Service, call RDM today at 1-877-MAZE-FREE (629-3373).

“We suspect an unauthorized transaction on your account. To ensure that your account is not compromised, please click the link below and confirm your identity.”

“During our regular verification of accounts, we couldn’t verify your information. Please click here to update and verify your information.”

Have you received email with a similar message? It’s a scam called “phishing” — and it involves Internet fraudsters who send spam or pop-up messages to lure personal information (credit card numbers, bank account information, Social Security number, passwords, or other sensitive information) from unsuspecting victims.

According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation’s consumer protection agency, phishers send an email or pop-up message that claims to be from a business or organization that you may deal with — for example, an Internet service provider (ISP), bank, online payment service, or even a government agency. The message may ask you to “update,” “validate,” or “confirm” your account information. Some phishing emails threaten a dire consequence if you don’t respond. The messages direct you to a website that looks just like a legitimate organization’s site. But it isn’t. It’s a bogus site whose sole purpose is to trick you into divulging your personal information so the operators can steal your identity and run up bills or commit crimes in your name.

The FTC suggests these tips to help you avoid getting hooked by a phishing scam:

1) If you get an email or pop-up message that asks for personal or financial information, do not reply. And don’t click on the link in the message, either. Legitimate companies don’t ask for this information via email. If you are concerned about your account, contact the organization mentioned in the email using a telephone number you know to be genuine, or open a new Internet browser session and type in the company’s correct Web address yourself. In any case, don’t cut and paste the link from the message into your Internet browser — phishers can make links look like they go to one place, but that actually send you to a different site.

2) Area codes can mislead. Some scammers send an email that appears to be from a legitimate business and ask you to call a phone number to update your account or access a “refund.” Because they use Voice Over Internet Protocol technology, the area code you call does not reflect where the scammers really are. If you need to reach an organization you do business with, call the number on your financial statements or on the back of your credit card. In any case, delete random emails that ask you to confirm or divulge your financial information.

3) Use anti-virus and anti-spyware software, as well as a firewall, and update them all regularly. Some phishing emails contain software that can harm your computer or track your activities on the Internet without your knowledge.

4) Anti-virus software and a firewall can protect you from inadvertently accepting such unwanted files. Anti-virus software scans incoming communications for troublesome files. Look for antivirus software that recognizes current viruses as well as older ones; that can effectively reverse the damage; and that updates automatically.

5) A firewall helps make you invisible on the Internet and blocks all communications from unauthorized sources. It’s especially important to run a firewall if you have a broadband connection. Operating systems (like Windows or Linux) or browsers (like Internet Explorer or Netscape) also may offer free software “patches” to close holes in the system that hackers or phishers could exploit.

6) Don’t email personal or financial information. Email is not a secure method of transmitting personal information. If you initiate a transaction and want to provide your personal or financial information through an organization’s website, look for indicators that the site is secure, like a lock icon on the browser’s status bar or a URL for a website that begins “https:” (the “s” stands for “secure”). Unfortunately, no indicator is foolproof; some phishers have forged security icons.

7) Review credit card and bank account statements as soon as you receive them to check for unauthorized charges. If your statement is late by more than a couple of days, call your credit card company or bank to confirm your billing address and account balances.

8) Be cautious about opening any attachment or downloading any files from emails you receive, regardless of who sent them. These files can contain viruses or other software that can weaken your computer’s security.

9) Forward spam that is phishing for information to spam@uce.gov and to the company, bank, or organization impersonated in the phishing email. Most organizations have information on their websites about where to report problems.

If you believe you’ve been scammed, file your complaint at ftc.gov and then visit the FTC’s Identity Theft website at www.consumer.gov/idtheft. Victims of phishing can become victims of identity theft. While you can’t entirely control whether you will become a victim of identity theft, you can take some steps to minimize your risk. If an identity thief is opening credit accounts in your name, these new accounts are likely to show up on your credit report. You may catch an incident early if you order a free copy of your credit report periodically from any of the three major credit bureaus. See www.annualcreditreport.com for details on ordering a free annual credit report.

You can learn other ways to avoid email scams and deal with deceptive spam at ftc.gov/spam.