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Thoughts From Abbott’s Inbox August 20th, 2021

Thoughts From My Inbox

August 20th, 2021

Big Fish, Ted Lasso, and Healthcare Hackers

I’m on the golf course today playing in an outing for one of our non-profit clients (I hope they’re not trying to raise money based on my golf ‘skills’!), so this was actually compiled yesterday. Apologies if ransomware took over the western world last night, and you don’t see it mentioned below.

Something About…

 

Ted Lasso  

I’d had a few people tell me about the AppleTV show “Ted Lasso”, but it wasn’t until I got this article about marketing the character that I figured we should sit down and watch it.  We blew through the first season in a week and are now caught up on season two.  As somebody who has always been active in sports (playing, coaching, watching), the coaching aspect of the show is outstanding.  But after reading this piece, I was all that much more impressed by the marketing campaigns they’ve come up with to draw viewers and allow them to connect to Ted.  If you haven’t watched it yet, I’d highly recommend you sign up for AppleTV.

 

Healthcare Hackers

This past Sunday, a healthcare system serving Marietta, OH and Parkersburg, WV, was hit by ransomware, forcing them to turn away patients. Health care organizations continue to be prime targets since hackers assume that they’ll happily pay ransoms so they can regain access to important data and systems.  Curious to see how many healthcare organizations (including here in Ohio) have been hit over the past couple of years?  You can view a ‘wall of shame’, courtesy of the Office of Civil Rights. And since we’re on the topic; I got a reminder earlier this week that hackers continue to use COVID-related scams to spread malware and ransomware.

 

 

Ransomware Demos

Our friends at TrustedSec are presenting a live demonstration of a corporate ransomware attack on Thursday, September 30th.  The free session will show how ransomware infects a network, how various companies have responded, and discuss methods to reduce your risk.  With Trusted Sec founder Dave Kennedy among the speakers, it’s sure to be a great event.

 

 

 

Bitcoin Laundry

An Akron man has pled guilty to laundering bitcoin to the tune of $200M ($300M if you read further in the article, and $311M if you click the embedded link).

 

Jaws

 Normally at this time of year, we’d just be back from a week or two in Northern Ontario where we’re off the grid and spend time fishing, reading, skiing, and drinking Canadian beer.  We haven’t been since October 2019 due to border issues, but an article from this morning really made me want to get up there and see if I can top the 40″ musky I caught two summers ago.

 

Visitors to Cleveland

You’re probably familiar with the “Cleveland” sign at Edgewater Beach (and others around the city). They were installed in 2016.   There’s another famous Cleveland sign, this one reading “Welcome to Cleveland”, and it was installed in 1978.  The only confusing thing is that it’s in Milwaukee!

 
Real Estate

Always wanted to live in California? (Neither have I)  Here’s your dream house; studs, a roof, a few walls, and a chimney.  For $850K. 

 

Sensitive Data

 CISA (The Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency) has posted a document with suggestions for protecting sensitive data and personal information in the event of a data breach. Lots of things we’ve discussed in the past in terms of preventing ransomware, good cyber hygiene, keeping data secure, and more.

Microsoft 365 Pricing

 If you’re running your email and Office applications through Microsoft 365, prepare for a price increase in March, 2022.  It’s nothing enormous, and is the first we’ve seen for quite some time.  If you’re an Ashton client, we’ll be getting in touch with more information. If you don’t have your MS365 through us, maybe you should.

Craft Beers With Ashton

September 15th, 2021.  That’s a Wednesday night, and the Ashton team will be treating our friends to beers at a downtown brewpub to be determined. We had a great turnout on the east side two weeks back, so we thought we’d change the venue. More details to follow, but you can plan that we’ll be there beginning at 5P on the 15th.

 

Thanks for continuing to read this publication.  I hope it’s made you the most interesting person at whatever event you’ve attended recently!  I’ll be on vacation next week, and I’ll put the odds at 50/50 that I still end up putting together some Thoughts From My Inbox.

 

Best,

Jim

 

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