Between the Bytes

As with most service industries, those who work them long enough end up with some pretty incredible stories. We've got some great tales about highs, lows, and even embarrassing situations in this episode of Between the Bytes. Join Gary & Derik as they talk with two of our most senior technicians about their time and experiences in the field of IT.

What makes a great IT Consultant? Technical skills? Personal skills? A mastery of turning things off and then back on again? Or is it some combination of all of these things? In this episode, Gary & Derik welcome James Fair and Ben Rees to talk about IT Consultants. We cover what technical and personal skills we look for, how Executech trains in both of those areas, and how both traits can be...

Hacking, malware, and ransomware have skyrocketed in the US over the past two years, and most industries have felt the pain and stress as a result. Two sectors have felt this pain more than others, however - healthcare and schools.  Recently, The White House passed a bill requiring research on how hard cybercrimes are hitting schools across the US. In this episode, Gary & Derik talk detai...

White Hat hackers find vulnerabilities inside an organization's technological infrastructure to help the organization stay in front of the more nefarious players in the world of cybersecurity.  In this episode, Derik welcomes James and Tyler to talk about these "hackers for good," bug bounty programs, and the other colors of hats hackers may wear. 

Gary & James discuss the importance of IT Roadmaps for your organization, who should be involved in creating one, and what should be included.  An IT Roadmap is precisely what it sounds like: it's a visual representation of the future of your technology and systems. IT Roadmaps allow businesses to take advantage of the infrastructure and systems already in place while still planning how t...

Microsoft leaks thousands of user credentials, Apple upsets a White-Hat hacker, and Google turns on MFA for thousands without asking. Derik, Gary, and James cover a handful of recent cybersecurity news stories in this episode of Between The Bytes. 

Most all of us have experienced it before; we talk about a particular product and see ads for that product as soon as a few minutes later on Facebook or Instagram. The timing can be very uncanny and maybe even a little creepy. So, Facebook has to be listening to your conversations, right? In this episode, Gary and Derik talk about how platforms like Facebook & Google know so much about you, wh...

In this episode, we're listening in on a recent webinar Executech did with one of our partners, Arctic Wolf. Join Brad Hanly, Systems Engineer @ Arctic Wolf & James Wright, Technical Director @ Executech, as they dive into the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) to discuss the most common questions we have heard, including: • What is CMMC, and how it applies to your organization?...

In this special episode of Between The Bytes, we've pulled the audio from our Emergency Preparedness webinar to make it available to everyone! Executech partnered with Acronis and the League of Oregon Cities to talk about different types of disasters, how they can affect your IT, and how to best prepare for these types of situations. Speakers: James Fair - Sr VP of IT Services @ Executech Tyler Ra...

In this episode, Gary & Derik welcome Lee, Director of Sales at Executech, for the first time on the show. Lee has been with Executech for almost 4 years now, and has been a part of countless IT Assessments with new & potential customers.  We invited Lee to talk about what an IT Assessment is, when it's a good time to get one done, and what to look for in an MSP both before and after...

In this episode, Gary & Derik welcome Jeff Palazzo - VP of Cloud Services at Executech. Jeff joins us to talk about Windows 365, a new and exciting service from Microsoft.  Windows 365 is a new service that will let businesses access Cloud PCs from anywhere, streaming a version of Windows 10 or, soon, Windows 11. Jeff walks us through how it works, who it's made for, and what we can expec...

Recently, Ben and his team executed a mock phishing attack inside the company to test our employees. Ben sent out a series of emails that mirrored standard phishing emails sent from cybercriminals using Sophos and their plug-and-play phishing test tools. We talk about how the test went, what cybercriminals will use against you to make it more likely to miss any red flags, and the psychology behind...

In this episode, Derik welcomes back Tyler Rasmussen, VP of Cybersecurity at Executech. Tyler joins us to talk about Mobile Device Management (MDM).  Many employees use mobile devices (cellphones, tablets, personal laptops, etc.) to access their organization's assets in the office, or on home/public WiFi networks. Tyler gives some best practices to secure devices, applications, and informatio...

In this episode, Gary, Derik, and James talk about Incident Response. - What is it? - Why is it important? - How do you create one for your organization? With the rapid increase of cyberattacks worldwide, unfortunately, the idea of your organization falling victim is becoming a matter of when, not if it will happen. This growing threat is why layers of cybersecurity are important, but not the fina...

Ransomware has been on an aggressive rise across the US over the past 18 months. In this episode, Gary, James, and Derik talk about an article published by The Verge .  The article offers up a few different ways to bring a stop to ransomware, but each has its own unique set of issues. We hope you enjoy it!  An excellent incident response plan is a must to ensure your organization is read...

In this episode of Between the Bytes, we introduce a new voice to the podcast! Derik Parkinson is a specialist on the Executech Marketing Team. Derik welcomes back James Fair, Sr. Vice President of Technical Operations at Executech, to help dive into Microsoft's Print Nightmare. A 'proof of concept' article unknowingly exposes a significant vulnerability for Microsoft. After almost 2 months, the i...

It's one the largest breaches in cybersecurity history and THE largest ransom ever posted - the Kaseya Breach. In this episode we bring back our VP of Cybersecurity, Tyler Rasmussen to talk about Kaseya. We talk about who they are, what the attack was, how it happened and how it could have been prevented. As always, we're also leaving you with several key security tips on keeping your business dat...

Microsoft recently announced their latest operating system - Windows 11. In this episode of Between the Bytes we invite James Fair, Sr. Vice President of Technical Operations at Executech to talk about some of the new, standout features, what he likes and doesn't like, system requirements and more.  It also wouldn't be an episode of Between the Bytes without a tip and insight for your busines...

We brought on a special guest this episode to talk about a new phishing scam on the rise for classified websites - including KSL. Welcome Brandon Barnedt, Sr. Vice President of Pacific Region! Brandon shares his brush with a KSL scammer, stories from the frontlines of IT and cybersecurity, and why he's a fan of General George Patton's leadership style. Check it out! Learn more about the ins and ou...

President Biden recently signed a new executive ordered that announced and mandated new cybersecurity measures to be taken by federal agencies. What are the new measures? How does it impact the private sector? What does it all mean? In this episode we breakdown the executive order and tackle these questions. We also talk about the great tactics the Federal government has and will use to stay secur...

In this episode of Between the Bytes we invite a new and special guest to explain the Hafnium hack. Welcome to Tyler Rasmussen, the VP of Cybersecurity at Executech. Tyler breaks down all the ins and outs of the hack including: What is Microsoft Exchange? Who/what is Hafnium? What was the breach? Who was impacted? How to clean up after the breach How to (hopefully) prevent/mitigate future attacks...

We brought together a panel of cybersecurity experts to discuss all things cyber in 2021 and beyond. Here are a few of the subjects we talked about: SolarWinds Hack Impact of 2020 on cybersecurity Cyber threats on the horizon Key steps to protect your data *This episode orginialled aired as a webinar as has been reformatted for podcast format.  If you'd like to learn more about keeping your b...

Is your computer taking longer to boot up? Does it seem to be slowing down? Does it freeze or cause problems? In this short-form Rundown episode, we're covering the top 10 steps you can take to improve the performance of your PC. This podcast comes from one of our most visited blog posts of the past 3 years.  Here's a teaser of some of the steps you can take right now: Delete old programs Pur...

In the final installment of our Journey to Azure for Independent Software Vendors, we bring together Jeff Palazzo and Alex Hughes to discuss the future of your application and business now that you’re in the cloud. We discuss items like; setting yourself up for success, maintaining proper guardrails, DevOps, and more. 0:00 - 2:50: Empowering your team in Azure 2:50 - 5:00: Managed processes and pr...

Welcome to our fourth episode of Journey to Azure for ISVs. In this episode, we breakdown the step-by-step process of what moving your software, app, or infrastructure to the cloud actually looks likes. We discuss the rough timelines of each step and the key factors in making a cloud migration project successful. 0:00 - 2:00 - Introducing Alex Hughes, Cloud Engineer/Architect  2:00 - 3:40 - T...