Hello Reader, ✨Let's spend some quality nerd-out time together!✨

But first:

1. ​Please add your voice to this petition asking the government of Canada to demand a ceasefire in Gaza. FYI - You will need to confirm your email for your signature to count and there is a good chance the message will land in your spam folder.
2. ​Nemahsis - This sums up what I am feeling right now about the state of the world we live in. Give it a listen then go follow this the singer. She was recently dropped from her label for thinking Palestinians deserve to be free, so let's boost her up!
3. Birthday Sale!! The world is a dumpster fire and it's my birthday, so I'm having a sale! From now until Dec 6 to get 20% off EVERYTHING! Consulting project, online programs, and coaching! However you want to work with me, you can get 20% off between now and Dec 6. Let's do this. Just reply to this email to get the ball rolling.

NOW! Join me for a cautionary tale about cyber security! It will be worth it, I promise. And I have some resources to share, so stick with me.

This last month I was finishing up a small data stewardship and cyber security basics consulting project, where we helped a small non-profit to understand what sensitive data is, how it should be managed, and what cyber security is possible with a basic Office 365 setup.

Everything was going fine, we get to the end of the project and are just about to enable some new products and rollout some new security policies when...we get a warning from Microsoft that there account has been suspended for suspicious activity!

Turns out the email account for the ED was compromised and was used to send close over 100 000 phishing emails to accounts all over the world in just a couple of hours! (*sad trumpet sounds*)

Thankfully their files were not breached so it was really just a matter of shutting down the email server and attending to the vulnerabilities to get things fixed.

BUT it did really shine a light on a misconception I had about cyber security.

I was always of the mind that no one is really going to be targeting some small charity in Canada, so while obviously the threat is always there, it is unlikely to happen.

Hackers don't look for a particular agency or business to go after, they look for VULNERABILITIES to go after, and if you don't have real-time monitoring and solid protections in place, we ALL have vulnerabilities in our systems!!

And the best way to be sure you have your bases covered is to have good IT support in place.

BUT WHO CAN AFFORD MANAGED IT SERVICES?!! The going rate is $60-75/user/mo!! This is more than most can afford, especially with the size of movers and shakers that I work with. So I have never been able to recommend an option to my clients.

UNTIL NOW!!

​Introducing Cyber Unit!

Cyber Unit quickly and professionally got my client out of the jam they were in AND THEY OFFER AFFORDABLE CYBER SECURITY AND IT SUPPORT!

I have never seen anyone approach IT the same! Instead of bundling the real-time protections you need into expensive managed service offers (which is the industry standard) they offer stand-alone cyber security with IT on the side! Meaning you can get the real-time protection you need for a MUCH lower rate ($10-20/user/mo) and then bank IT hours with them to use when needed.

I am seriously impressed with them! If you know you really should do something about your cyber security and IT situation, reply to this email so I can get you connected with my dream team over there!

ALSO, if you are interested in learning more about data stewardship and cyber security training for your staff let me know! I have something I'm cooking up for the new year that I'd love to fill you in on!!

That's it for today.

Until next time, take good care,

R*