Industry News & Updates

Introduction: Why Houston Businesses Need IT Cloud Solutions In today’s competitive market, Houston companies need agile, reliable, and secure IT cloud solutions to thrive. From cost savings to enhanced security, the right cloud approach unlocks growth opportunities for businesses of all sizes. Exploring the Latest Computing Cloud Services Modern computing cloud services offer flexible, on-demand…

What Does “Cloud Computing Cloud Computing” Mean? Cloud computing cloud computing refers to leveraging multiple cloud platforms and environments together, allowing Houston businesses to access, manage, and store data flexibly and securely. With this approach, you gain unmatched scalability, improved collaboration, and the ability to rapidly adapt IT resources as your business grows.   The…

Understanding Cloud Computing and Cloud Services Cloud computing and cloud services are reshaping the way Houston businesses operate, offering unprecedented flexibility, efficiency, and security. With the right cloud solutions, organizations can reduce costs, streamline operations, and stay agile in a fast-changing marketplace. Leveraging Cloud to Cloud Integrations for Flexibility Cloud to cloud integrations connect multiple…

Demystifying “Cloud” in Today’s Business IT Cloud technology has become central to modern Houston businesses. By embracing the cloud, organizations access scalable, secure resources, reduce IT overhead, and future-proof operations for growth. The Relationship Between Cloud and Cloud Computing Cloud and cloud computing are often used interchangeably, but there are distinctions. The cloud refers to…

Importance of Security and Cloud Computing in Houston For Houston businesses, safeguarding data and ensuring uninterrupted operations is more critical than ever. Security and cloud computing are now essential elements of modern IT strategies—offering scalable, real-time protection against cyber threats and disasters. By embracing cloud-powered security, companies achieve stronger defense, faster recovery, and regulatory compliance.…

Maximizing Security: Managed Cyber Security Solutions The Rise of Cyber Threats in Houston Cyber threats are increasing rapidly in Houston, putting local businesses at risk of data breaches, ransomware, and costly downtime. Modern organizations need more than just basic network protection—managed cyber security services are essential for safeguarding business continuity and customer trust. What Are…

Essential Managed Network Services for Houston Why Managed Network Services Matter in Houston In today’s fast-paced Houston business environment, reliable and secure network infrastructure is essential. Managed network services empower local businesses to maintain peak performance, ensure network security, and adapt to changing demands—all while reducing costs and IT headaches. What Is a Managed Network?…

Building Secure Cloud and Hybrid Networks in Houston The Need for Cloud and Hybrid Network Solutions In today’s fast-evolving digital landscape, Houston businesses require flexible, secure, and reliable network infrastructure to stay competitive. Cloud network services and hybrid network models provide scalable solutions that support business continuity, protect sensitive data, and empower your team no…

The Evolving IT and Network Services Landscape In Houston’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, having reliable IT network services is essential for staying ahead. As companies shift to hybrid work and cloud-based operations, modern IT and network services deliver connectivity, security, and scalability Houston businesses need to grow with confidence. Benefits of IT Network Services for…

Houston’s fast-growing business scene depends on reliable, secure, and scalable technology. Increasingly, companies across Houston are choosing managed IT services to stay ahead of the curve, minimize downtime, and ensure business continuity. What Are Managed IT Services? Managed IT services are comprehensive solutions provided by an external partner, covering everything from cybersecurity and data backup…

Houston’s business landscape is evolving rapidly, and having the right IT consulting partner is more critical than ever. With technology shaping every aspect of business, local companies need trusted guidance to stay competitive, secure, and agile. Introduction: Why IT Consulting Is Essential for Houston Businesses For more than 30 years, Crescent IT Systems has helped…

Houston’s business landscape is evolving rapidly, and having the right IT consulting partner is more critical than ever. With technology shaping every aspect of business, local companies need trusted guidance to stay competitive, secure, and agile. Introduction: Why IT Consulting Is Essential for Houston Businesses For more than 30 years, Crescent IT Systems has helped…

Flexible IT Solutions—The Power of Managed Services and Support in Houston Flexibility is key in today’s dynamic Houston business environment. Whether you’re scaling up, navigating industry regulations, or shifting to remote work, managed IT support services provide the adaptability modern organizations need to thrive. Why Flexibility Matters for Houston Businesses As your business changes, so…

Maximizing Business Security with IT Support Managed Services Houston’s business community is increasingly targeted by cybercriminals and data breaches. To protect sensitive information and ensure business continuity, more organizations are investing in IT support managed services for comprehensive, proactive security. Cybersecurity Threats Facing Houston Businesses From ransomware attacks to phishing scams, the threats facing Houston…

How to Choose the Right Managed Service IT Provider in Houston Finding the right managed service IT provider is one of the most important decisions your Houston business can make. The right provider offers not just technical expertise, but local insight, fast response times, and the ability to scale as your business grows. The Importance…

Why Houston Businesses Are Switching to Managed IT Services Houston’s fast-growing business scene depends on reliable, secure, and scalable technology. Increasingly, companies across Houston are choosing managed IT services to stay ahead of the curve, minimize downtime, and ensure business continuity. What Are Managed IT Services? Managed IT services are comprehensive solutions provided by an…

In Houston’s fast-changing business environment, companies of all sizes rely on managed IT services to power operations, protect data, and drive growth. This guide explains what managed IT services are, how they work, and why partnering with a local expert like Crescent IT Systems gives your business a real advantage. What Are Managed IT Services?…

In today’s digital world, Houston businesses of all sizes face a constant barrage of cyber threats. Understanding the basics of cybersecurity is essential for safeguarding sensitive data, customer trust, and business continuity. Why Cybersecurity Matters for Houston Businesses Cyber attacks in Houston are on the rise, targeting everyone from small startups to major enterprises. Partnering…

Building a Strong Network Security Foundation Houston’s thriving business sector is a top target for cybercriminals. With sensitive data, client information, and financial assets at stake, a robust network security strategy is critical for organizations of all sizes. Introduction: Network Security Risks Facing Houston Organizations Local businesses in Houston are constantly challenged by new cyber…

Advanced Cyber Security Services and Solutions As Houston’s digital landscape expands, so do the risks. To stay ahead of evolving cyber threats, more organizations are turning to advanced cybersecurity services that offer expert support, powerful technologies, and proactive strategies. Introduction: When to Seek Advanced Cybersecurity Services in Houston Businesses in Houston face constant cyber risks—from…

The Rise of Cloud Security in Modern Business Houston’s business landscape is evolving fast, and cloud technology is at the heart of this transformation. But as more organizations move their operations to the cloud, cloud network security has never been more critical. Introduction: Why Cloud Security Is Critical for Houston Enterprises Cyber threats target businesses…

Practical Strategies for Business-Wide Security Houston’s organizations face unprecedented cyber risks—from phishing scams to ransomware and insider threats. To protect your business, you need a comprehensive plan for cyber security; security that covers every department and endpoint. Introduction: Defining Cyber Security in Today’s World Cyber security today goes far beyond firewalls and antivirus. It means…

Cybersecurity Best Practices for CPAs in 2025 In 2025, cybersecurity for accounting firms is not just important—it’s essential. As accounting firms handle a wealth of sensitive financial data, they have become prime targets for cyberattacks. Why is cybersecurity essential? Cybercriminals seek access to tax records, payroll information, and banking credentials, which can be exploited for…

IT Support for Small Business Owners: A 10-Step Survival Guide Modern small businesses face increasingly complex technological demands. Having the right IT support isn’t just convenient, it’s essential. Whether you’re a startup or a growing company in Houston, here’s a 10-step survival guide designed to help you gain control of your systems and ensure operational…

The Best Password Managers of 2025: Secure Your Digital World with Confidence As cyber threats grow more sophisticated and online accounts multiply, managing and protecting your passwords is no longer optional—it’s essential. In 2025, choosing the best password manager 2025 means more than just remembering logins; it’s about securing your identity, improving productivity, and protecting…

Introduction: IT Compliance Is Both a Shield and a Growth Engine IT compliance is no longer a box‑ticking exercise for Texas law firms. It is a strategic imperative that: Safeguards Client Trust – Demonstrating robust cybersecurity reassures clients that their privileged information is protected. Protects Your Reputation – Compliance proves you take ethical obligations seriously,…

The Growing Importance of Cybersecurity in Houston In today’s digital-first economy, cybersecurity isn’t just an IT issue, it’s a core business concern. Houston, as a rapidly growing business hub, is seeing increased cyber threats targeted specifically at small to midsize businesses. Without robust cybersecurity measures, companies risk data breaches, financial loss, and severe damage to…

Introduction In today’s rapidly changing economy, small to mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) face unique challenges, making the adaptability of IT support crucial. This post highlights how scalable and customized IT solutions are key to helping businesses thrive amidst economic fluctuations. Why is Flexibility Important in IT Services? Importance of Scalable IT Services Scalable IT services, which…

In the face of economic uncertainty, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) must take proactive measures to fine-tune their IT operations and maximize their financial performance. “On the economy, 52% of small business owners said they believe the economy is already in a recession the survey found.” -Reuters.com To position your business for success and thrive…

The Essential IT Tips to Know Before Moving Your Company to a New Location Introduction A move can be a stressful time for any company, but it’s even more so when you’re dealing with computers and technology. In this guide we will give you some essential IT tips to keep in mind before moving your…

How to Build Your Cybersecurity   Incident Response Plan When a cyberattack strikes, how fast can you respond? Ransomware attacks are up threefold in 2021.  A recent NCC group reports that the number of ransomware attacks analyzed by the team has increased by 288% between January-March 2021 and April-June 2021. Cybersecurity risks are out there…

According to Cybersecurity Ventures, it states that there will be a ransomware attack on businesses every 11 seconds in 2021. This does not include attacks on individuals, which occur even more frequently than businesses.  Businesses need to act now to shore up their cybersecurity to protect themselves from cyberattacks. What is Ransomware? Ransomware is a…

COVID-19 has affected almost every business in 2020, forcing companies to send some, most, or all their employees to work from home with the COVID-19 shutdown mandate.  The hasty transition from on-premises to off-premises work has all but thrown out the company’s IT playbook, and the level of security found in the employee’s home offices…

Virus Now Has Evolved to Spread Through the Wi-Fi Like a Worm Security Alert from Crescent IT Systems The ThreatPost.com reported that a virus seen as a banking trojan in 2014 has evolved over the years and recently has returned as a extremely dangerous malware delivery system.  The Emotet malware has returned with the ability…

Small businesses are considered a rich targets for cybercrime today. James Morrison, a Houston FBI Computer Scientist, speaking about Cybersecurity at the West Houston Chamber Cybersecurity event on August 2nd framed the danger to businesses today. Morrison stated, “The mindset of the cyber criminals is different than normally think. It is not what they can steal…

Ransomware Attacks Grow with Better Hacker Tools As little as a few years ago the tools in use were only dreamed about in deploying and loading the ransomware “cannons”.  But with the availability of sophisticated hacker tools, especially the ransomware tools on the dark net, anyone can deploy a ransomware attack.  Businesses today need a…

A VPN’s primary purpose is to ensure privacy and security online, but no one wants to compromise speed. High speed is always a top priority for those shopping for a VPN service, and many providers have laid claim to the title of the world’s fastest VPN. All VPNs slow down your internet to some degree,…

Using independent antivirus lab test results and website review scores, we charted and compared top AV tools based on multiple points, including overall protection, system performance, false positives, price, and more. There are currently dozens of antivirus tools available on the market. Big name options such as Norton, McAfee, Bitdefender, and AVG typically get the…

Apple has apparently been able to permanently block de-encryption technology from a mysterious Atlanta-based company whose blackbox device was embraced by government agencies to bypass iPhone passcodes.

The popularity of passwords as a means of authentication is still not waning, so advice on how to opt for passwords that are hard to guess and crack is always timely Choosing passwords For one, avoid the most often used passwords. SplashData’s most recent list of the top 100 worst passwords (of the past year)…

LINK TO REVIEWS

Improving backup and continuity is frequently listed as a top five priority for IT organizations, but for many organizations, backup and recovery processes need to improve a lot, not just incrementally. Today, enterprises often run backup tools, and rely on business continuity processes, designed for older platforms developed before elastic clouds, near-ubiquitous virtualized workloads, or…

Business-friendly notebooks come in all shapes, sizes and prices. Here’s help picking the laptops best suited to your organization’s various employees. With hundreds of business-oriented laptops to choose from — everything from sleek ultralight tablets to huge portable workstations — picking the right ones to outfit your company’s workforce can make finding a needle in…

There are two key trends happening in today’s networks the c-suite executives need to be paying close attention to. The first is that IT teams are struggling to keep up with digital transformation demands, including the move to multi-cloud infrastructures and services, the rapid adoption of IoT networks and devices, BYOD and a highly mobile…

 Is it really that hard to keep from making a security idiot of yourself? When I hear people worrying about cloud security, they’re usually shaking in their boots about some obscure bug beyond their control. Ha! Ordinary, stupid human mistakes are more than bad enough. For example, Accenture left hundreds of gigabytes of private user…

Facebook denies listening to your conversations to target advertising. But denial wording seems odd. Credit: U.S. Navy, via Celestial Images [public domain] Is Facebook listening to every word you say? Zuck’s crew says it won’t use your speech to target advertising or reorder your feed, but it’s still unclear what it does use the microphone…

Everyone Needs a Password Manager This year, World Password Day falls on Star Wars Day. May the fourth be with you! Celebrate by changing all your simple passwords to strong ones, with different ones for every secure site. If that doesn’t sound like fun, consider getting some help. First, install a password manager. Second, get…

As ransomware increasingly targets healthcare organizations, schools and government agencies, security experts offer advice to help IT leaders prepare and protect. Biometrics and Fingerprint Scan Security Technology Concept Nigerian princes are no longer the only menaces lurking in an employee’s inbox. For healthcare organizations, schools, government agencies and many businesses, ransomware attacks—an especially sinister type…

Source: PC Mag – Michael Muchmore   After last year’s big splashes with Windows 10 and HoloLens, this year’s Microsoft Build was more incremental. Though Microsoft didn’t release or announce a new version of Windows at the event, or even any new hardware, it did give us a look at what’s coming up in the…

How to Get Google Maps to Stop Following You Where you go, Google goes. If you have location services turned on, then Google Maps has keeps track of every step you (and your smartphone) take. Your Google Timeline, introduced last year, can be a true walk down memory lane, but it can also lead straight…

Source: Computerworld Malware researchers have released a tool that can decrypt files affected by the new threat Understanding how to buy bitcoins and pay ransomware authors for decryption keys is hard enough, yet some cybercriminals now expect their victims to do it in under an hour if they want all of their files back. A…

Source: Computerworld OPINION BY AL KUEBLER Not every organization has moved its IT operations to the cloud, nor should we expect that to be the case. There are legitimate reasons to adhere to the on-premises IT approach, not the least of which is the fact that it assures that your IT infrastructure and all the…

BY MICHELLE V. RAFTER Source: PC Mag Pierre Tremblay can’t undo April 29, 2015, the day someone on his human resources (HR) team accidentally sent a “You didn’t get the job” email to about 110 job applicants—including people the company wanted to hire. He can make sure it never happens again. Like that misdirected email,…

The banking trojan — a type of malware used to steal credentials for bank accounts — has been a staple of cyberthieves for years. However, ransomware, which has proven both easy to use and highly successful, has started eroding its popularity. In a typical banking trojan attack, a robber mounts a phishing campaign to entice…

Are you happy using Windows 7 or Windows 8? Would you like the Windows 10 upgrade? I’m asking you these questions for two reasons. Firstly because I think respecting consumer choice is important. Secondly because Microsoft’s latest Windows 10 upgrade trick demonstrates the company stopped caring about your answers to both these questions a long…

Credit: Shutterstock Kansas Heart Hospital was hit with a ransomware attack. It paid the ransom, but then attackers tried to extort a second payment. Kansas Heart Hospital in Witchita was hit with ransomware last week. The ransomware attack occurred on Wednesday, and the KWCH 12 news video from Friday night said some files were still…

We know that many people are awful at picking passwords — and the huge hack of LinkedIn confirms it. The professional social network was breached back in 2012, but it has returned to the news this week as we finally learned the true scale of it: A whopping 167 million accounts were compromised, including 117…

Roughly half of all Web traffic comes from bots and crawlers, and that’s costing companies a boatload of money Strategies have changed dramatically in the past few years, with new approaches like consolidating your Read Now That’s one finding from a report released Thursday by DeviceAtlas, which makes software to help companies detect the devices…

It doesn’t take a genius to realize that when you hit pay dirt, you might do so again if you keep digging in the same area. That’s the tack Dell takes with its redesigned XPS 15 laptop: It’s easily summed up as a bigger, more powerful version of the super-popular XPS 13. Bigger isn’t always…