Dear Clients and Friends

Dear Clients and Friends,

I hope all of you are doing well and looking forward to a great holiday season! In some ways it is hard to believe that 2016 is almost over. It seems like yesterday that we were ringing in the New Year. Even though it seemed to go by quickly, 2016 brought with it many changes. As most of you know, we moved our office in May to the Keith Building on Valleydale Road. This new location gives us more space that is better suited to our needs. We are only three tenths of a mile from the old location where we spent the last eight years.

2016 also saw a growth in the number of cyber-attacks, especially instances of ransomware, attempting to steal data or at least interrupt normal business practices. Ransomware is a type of malicious software designed to block access to a computer system until a sum of money is paid. Sometimes systems are infected through a malicious email or email attachment. Sometimes it occurs when a user clicks on a fake software update request. Usually, when an attack occurs, the user finds that their files have been encrypted and are unusable. The only way to recover the data is to either pay the ransom and take a chance that the perpetrators will send you the decryption key once the ransom is paid, or to restore the files from a current backup. The latter is definitely the preferred way. This is just one of the many reasons to always have a reliable backup of your data.

At the end of this month, we will once again celebrate Thanksgiving Day. I believe that all of us have a lot to be thankful for. I hope that each of you has the opportunity to slow down from your daily routine and enjoy your family and friends while you reflect on the blessings of this past year. Happy Thanksgiving, and until next time….

John Browning