855-455-5035 www.azcomp.com
OCTOBER 2019
Empowering Small Practices to Deliver the Best Care
The foundation of good cybersecurity is always going to be technological. Without the proper defenses in place and a team of experts monitoring your system, you’re more likely to experience an attack and suffer serious damage as a result. In a world where 60% of small businesses close within six months following a data breach, investing in your network security is akin to investing in your livelihood. However, simply hiring the best doesn’t cover every gap in the system. Hackers know that the human aspects of a network are often more vulnerable than the computers. Some ne’er-do-wells attempt to trick team members into giving up access to sensitive information through a process known as social engineering. Others lurk in plain sight, hoping to catch people who are unaware of their presence. In each case, there’s nothing you can do from a technological standpoint to prevent a criminal from attempting to sneak their way into your data stores. What can do you, though, is train your people on how to ensure those attempts end in failure. Today, I’d like to show you how to do just that in regard to two major threats. PHISHING Phishing, as the name implies, is an attempt to lure users into unwittingly giving up access to private networks by prompting the user to click on a link that contains software designed to penetrate and exploit the network. Now, nobody is going to click on a link that says “Get your data stolen today,” so the hackers disguise the intent. They make every attempt to make communication seem authentic, sometimes going so far as to convincingly replicate the design elements used in communication from major banks. There are a few telltale giveaways, though, that an email isn’t what it appears to be. Misspellings, vagueness, and offers that are too good to be true abound in phishing emails. So, too, does a sense of urgency that makes you think clicking is a life-or-death proposition. Teaching your team how to spot these signs is crucial, but coaching them to never click on links in emails they were not expecting to receive is even more important. These unsolicited approaches, which can also come via text and social media, should always be regarded with skepticism. 2 TIPS FOR BETTER CYBERSECURITY That Won’t Cost You a Cent
If you really want to create a team who won’t get fooled by phishing, it’s easy to run test phishing emails and see who gets hooked. Using that data, you can actively train people who may be susceptible to future attacks. PUBLIC WI-FI Free public Wi-Fi can seem like a godsend when you need to log online in a pinch. However, those unprotected networks can go from lifesaver to life-ruiner in a hurry. If you’re able to jump onto a network for free without so much as a password, there’s nothing stopping anyone from doing the exact same thing. You should never, ever log onto anything important on public Wi-Fi, and you should educate your team to do the same. Even password-protected networks at restaurants and other public places should be treated with caution. Some places that cater to workers provide unique passwords for each user, but if they simply slap the password on the door, it’s not really for customers only. The danger of public Wi-Fi networks illustrates the unique dangers that arise from our cloud-connected age. It’s amazing that your staff is able to access work records, customer-facing email portals, and other tools no matter where they are or what type of device they have access to, but that benefit also comes with a responsibility. Anyone accessing company data outside of the office has to be able to practice safe internet strategies. You should consider making two-factor authentication and strong passwords mandatory for all team members with remote access and provide thorough training before turning over the digital keys. Tips like these will help upgrade your human cybersecurity to the latest and greatest version. Your tech isn’t 1.0, so your coaching about that tech shouldn’t be either. –Byron Adams
Published by The Newsletter Pro • www.TheNewsletterPro.com
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A GUIDE TO STREAMING NFL GAMES
Cable Alternatives for Football Fans
Every year, more and more Americans decide to ditch traditional cable and satellite TV subscriptions in favor of digital streaming services. However, since the cord-cutting phenomenon began, live sports has been the one category of television immune to the digital migration. For a long time, the only comprehensive option for watching NFL games online was through shoddy illegal streams. Today, the situation is much less grim. There are myriad alternatives for getting your football fix. Here are the best in two important categories. I WANT ALL THE GAMES. If you want the option to watch every single NFL game on the schedule, you need access to five networks: CBS, NBC, Fox, ESPN, and the NFL Network. PlayStation Vue is the only streaming service that offers all of these networks, but you’ll need to pay a little extra for the NFL Network, and you’ll need a PlayStation 4 to subscribe to the service. If PlayStation Vue isn’t an option, Hulu + Live TV, AT&T TV Now, and YouTube TV all include four of the five, the NFL Network being the only exception.
Deciding between these options comes down to which user experience you prefer and which offers the most secondary benefits. If your kids watch a ton of YouTube, for example, they may enjoy the premium content included with YouTube TV subscriptions. In terms of price, they are pretty similar, ranging from $45 (Hulu + Live TV) to $55 (PlayStation Vue with added NFL Network) per month. Additionally, they all currently offer a free trial, so you can test them out before committing. I WANT TO WATCH MY TEAM. If you only care about watching your favorite squad, you needn’t opt for a comprehensive bundled service. Depending on where you live and which team you want to watch, you can get most of your games via CBS All Access. Fans of NFC teams, whose games air on Fox, will have to turn to Sling Blue, which costs $25 per month compared to CBS’s $6, but it comes with the bonuses of the NFL Network and NFL RedZone. MEDISOFT, LYTEC, AND NEXTGEN OFFICE SUPPORT PLANS FOR HOSTING, BACKUP, AND MORE Need Support? Call 480-497-7480 if you have a support contract. Don’t Have Support? Plans start at just $99/month. Call us at 855-455-5035 to get started with support, training, electronic claims, electronic health records (EHR), hosting, backup, and more. We have so many tools and services to help your practice become more efficient, keep its network protected, and remain a thriving independent practice. We want to help your practice perform at the highest possible level by providing services that help you get the most out of your software. Be sure to check our website often at azcomp.com/events to learn about upcoming trainings and other events we host. DON’T FORGET TO UPGRADE YOUR SOFTWARE!
WANTED: BETA TESTERS FOR
UPCOMING MEDISOFT V24 AZCOMP is looking for Beta Testers for Medisoft’s newest version 24 coming soon. If your practice is interested in becoming an early adopter with this exclusive opportunity, we want to talk to you. Send us an email at info@azcomp.com and use the subject line, “Make me a Beta Tester.” We’ll get in touch with you with more details on cool incentives, technical requirements, and expectations. Email us today!
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THE WIRELESS EARBUD EXPLOSION AirPods and Their Alternatives No tech product has seen a faster surge to ubiquity in 2019 than Apple’s AirPod earbuds. Walk a block in a major city, and you’re almost certain to see at least one person with the little white headphones dangling from their ears. True wireless headphones refer to any pair of earbuds that don’t require a wire between them. They
have become popular over the past couple years as a result of better Bluetooth technology that has increased their range and fidelity. While AirPods are the most popular model and a reminder of how good Apple’s design team can be, there are reasons to consider these two standout alternatives. THE KLIPSCH T5 TRUE WIRELESS earbuds are the best choice for those who prize sound quality above all. They are nowhere near as sleek as AirPods, but audiophiles will happily make that tradeoff. THE SONY WF-1000XM3 earbuds come with active noise cancellation, which makes them a great option for business travelers and others who need clear sound in crowded areas. They aren’t cheap, starting at $228, but they offer an unrivaled feature set.
Over the past generation, the two fastest growing subjects within primary education have been computer science and language learning. As a result, it comes as no surprise that tech startups are trying to find innovative ways to teach these increasingly vital topics. While the field of companies that makes coding fun is crowded, one business has separated itself from the pack when it comes to learning a new language. That company, Duolingo, has built one of the most envied brands in tech by making bilingual education fun and affordable. Duolingo was founded in 2011 in Pittsburgh by Luis von Ahn and Severin Hacker. Prior to co-founding Duolingo, von Ahn invented Captcha, those warped letters that provide an added layer of security for website information. With Duolingo, von Ahn, the company’s CEO, wanted to create a service that would allow users to learn a language without needing to buy expensive software or attend classes. To achieve that goal, Duolingo gamified language learning. The company’s chief service is a free app that delivers language learning in brief, enjoyable chunks. “The hardest thing about learning anything by yourself is staying motivated, which is why we decided to turn it into a game,” von Ahn says. “We added a lot of little things to get you addicted to learning.” With over 200 million active users, their plan is working. What’s even better is that they don’t charge those users anything for their service, which is a rarity in the app world. Duolingo is truly free, devoid of premium content and microtransactions. Users can pay for a version that is ad-free and accessible offline, but the learning experience is exactly the same across both tiers. With over 30 languages and counting, Duolingo only improves with each passing iteration. As it grows in popularity and investment, the sky’s the limit for what this little free app can accomplish. How Duolingo Became an Education Phenomenon THE NEW WAY TO LEARN A NEW LANGUAGE
AARON DIGNAN’S ‘BRAVE NEW WORK’ An Operating System for Your Entire Organization When you think of an operating system (OS), the first words that probably come to mind are “Mac” and “Windows.” Take a step back, though, and you’ll realize your entire business relies on a vast, complex OS to function. In many ways, the OSs we use to run our business are the real-life equivalent of MS-DOS. They don’t serve us well, and they create problems in a future-facing environment.
In “Brave New Work: Are You Ready to Reinvent Your Organization?” Aaron Dignan offers an alternative to the status quo systems and practices so many companies rely on. “Somehow, amid a period of relentless innovation … the way we come together as humans to solve problems and invent our future has remained remarkably constant,” Dignan writes. In the first part of the book, he lays out the history of the way we work, how it came to be, and why it no longer serves us. Then, he offers a new framework for operating in the form of the OS Canvas, which “highlights 12 domains where we most urgently need to question and reinvent our approach.” This canvas, which includes sections like workflow, resources, and structures, is an “embedded and interconnected” system rather than one that runs from the top down. If you find yourself running into operational struggles too often at work, it’s time to adopt a better way. “Brave New Work” can help you there.
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2500 S. Power Rd., Ste. 117 Mesa, AZ 85209 i nside this issu e Employee Awareness and Data Security PAGE 1 Ways to Watch Football Without Cable PAGE 2 The Free App for Language Learning PAGE 3 A Revolution in Earbud Technology PAGE 3 AZCOMP Leadership Library: ‘Brave New Work’ PAGE 3 Bravery in the Face of True Horror PAGE 4
THE COURAGE TO SPEAK UP
by Liz
As the youngest survivors of the Holocaust enter their 90s, we are slowly losing our last firsthand links to one of history’s largest tragedies. Given that hearing personal accounts is among the most touching and impactful ways to experience history, there’s never been a more urgent time to listen to people talk about their experience. Recently, I had the great privilege to hear one such survivor, Eva Schloss, share her story. Eva Schloss was born in Vienna in 1929. By the time Eva was 11, she lived in Amsterdam on the same block as Anne Frank. The two girls became friends, but they were separated when both families went into hiding in an attempt to avoid the threat of the Nazis. After being betrayed by a supposed ally, the Schlosses were outed as Jews and transported to Auschwitz. While Eva’s father and brother did not survive, she and her mother were released when Auschwitz was liberated in 1945. The Schlosses returned to Amsterdam, where they reconnected with Otto Frank, Anne’s father. He too had lost his family and had recently come across his daughter’s diary,
which would go on to become one of the major testaments to the horrors of the Holocaust. Eventually, Eva’s mother and Otto went on to marry, making Eva Anne’s posthumous stepsister. For a long time, Eva did not feel comfortable discussing her experience. Until the 1980s, she struggled to find the voice and words to express what happened to her. Since then, though, Eva’s been unstoppable. In an age of alarmingly little Holocaust awareness — the Washington Post reported last year that 22% of millennials “haven’t heard of the Holocaust or are not sure whether they’ve heard of it” — her work is essential. One of our core values here is named for another hero, Eddie Aikau, a surfer who rescued over 500 people from drowning during his career as a lifeguard. We say, “We Go Where Eddie Would Go” as a way to express how we are passionate and determined in achieving our goals. In having the bravery to speak about the unspeakable, Eva Schloss goes where Eddie would. For that and so much more, she’s an inspiration to us all.
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