In today’s technology-driven world, businesses heavily depend on IT support to ensure smooth operations, protect critical data, and drive growth. Yet, not all IT support is created equal. Many businesses encounter recurring problems that hinder productivity, waste resources, and create unnecessary stress.

News articles spend a lot of time talking about malicious hackers typing away in dimly lit basements and state actors using their country's resources to disrupt information systems. However, IBM found that 60 percent of the cyber threats that face businesses are internal.

Now that we’ve covered what a Managed Service Provider is, let’s take a deeper look into how an MSP protects your company.

Let’s start with some of the simple things first, like how your hardware and software is protected.

Updates and Patches

Okay, this one is boring but absolutely critical.

Managed IT services is a term that makes absolutely no sense—unless you’re in the IT industry. So for those of us who don’t know what it means or why it’s important, let’s get right to it.

Managed services are fully outsourced IT that takes care of all the headaches you normally associate with technology.

Although it's one of the lesser considered elements of businesses of all kinds, finding the right IT service provider can work wonders for your company. However, it is also the case that collaborating with an unqualified IT service provider can cause much more harm than good.

You may not be aware that ransomware attacks are on the rise -- and they're quickly covering more ground while also getting more destructive. Take for example, the worldwide malware attack in June of last year that struck businesses all over the world. And many of these businesses were big brand names like FedEx, for example.

Business is moving at the speed of light, thanks to rapidly advancing technology. Internet access is faster than ever before, making it possible to send massive files, conduct face-to-face video conferences and process huge amounts of data in moments. Updated hardware is a must-have in order to take advantage of these tools, but simply purchasing a top-of-the-line computer isn't enough.

Employee monitoring is a time-honored necessity in any business, but the digital age has changed the methods required to do it well.

Gone are the days when a time clock and a manager walking the floor were enough to track worker activity. Today, most employees perform duties that rely on a computer or mobile device, each of which provides access to a world of distractions, security risks and time wasting.

Under Armour revealed on Thursday that its MyFitnessPal app has been hacked.  At first glance, this looks to be the 2nd largest data breach behind Equifax.

The fitness apparel company learned that data on 150 million accounts for the site and app were breached earlier this week, a statement said.

5 Ways a Managed Service Provider Can Protect You From Cyber Crime
With new cyber threats emerging on an almost daily basis, and long-standing ones still causing problems, how do you protect your business from cyber criminals? According to research by Accenture, cyber attacks cost businesses $11.7 million in 2017 alone, with security breaches increasing by 27.4 percent.