TurnKey Internet’s latest expansion of our New York Datacenter continues on with “Crane Day”

This year’s “Crane Day” included upgrades to our datacenter’s cooling system with the installation of new equipment on the roof (right next to all of our awesome solar panels!)

These upgrades will help keep all of the servers located in our newest POD expansion running nice and cool.

To check out some additional photos from “Crane Day” visit our Facebook page here!

More 2016 Expansion updates will be coming soon!

 

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SSL certificates are crucial for websites that offer anything for sale as they provide a level of privacy and security that is necessary to ensure that customers are comfortable shopping there. In fact, many people will simply leave their full shopping cart in your virtual aisle and refuse to purchase anything from your website if they realize that it does not have an SSL certificate.

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is used to transmit private information online in a manner that keeps it private. Customers will know that any information that they provide you is being kept safe from prying eyes if https:// precedes your website address, and a lock icon is located to the left of it. Banks and other major financial institutions have used SSL certificates, which were initially developed by Netscape in 1994, for some time.

 

How Does It Work?

The data that is being sent is immediately encrypted, causing somebody attempting to hack into it to not be able to read it as all they will see is an undecipherable list of letters and numbers. The information will then arrive on the recipient’s end after being unencrypted into its original form so that it can be read and utilized as was originally intended.

Data being sent without the use of SSL certificates could either be hijacked by a hacker and then used for their usually nefarious purposes or it could even be altered en route to its destination without the sender or the recipient realizing that any changes had been made to it.

These digital certificates also ensure that the personal and private data is being sent to the secure site it’s supposed to go to and not being diverted to one that could be malicious.

 

It Works Both Ways

Any information that those running a website send to interested parties is also encrypted when using SSL certificates. These can include newsletters, promotional codes and vouchers as well as any information that you send during the purchasing process that you want to ensure is not intercepted and stolen or altered en route.

 

Indirect Benefits

Using SSL certificates is a wonderful way to increase your website’s search engine optimization (SEO). In 2014, Google announced that it will be giving rankings boosts to websites using this layer of protection. Although having this level of trust in your website is not going to impact the search engine results as much as the quality of your content, it will give you a leg up as far as search engine results go when competing against otherwise similar websites. Google may also increase its importance down the line.

 

Differences

Single certificates cover one domain name. Wildcard certificates are valid for one domain name and any subdomains underneath it. Multi-domain certificates are good for multiple domain names.

Domain validation certificates offer the most basic level of protection; they cover basic encryption and verify that the person whose name or email address is associated with the website has control over it. However, they do not verify exactly who this individual or company is or how much control he or she has over the website’s content or where information sent through it actually goes.

Organization validation certificates provide a more thorough validation process by checking on the applicant’s credentials and doing things like making sure the individual or company’s physical address matches up with the application and that they have a legal right to own and run that website. Businesses should at the very least use this certificate as domain validation certificates just do not provide the safety and trust that is usually necessary.

Extended validation certificates are the ones that offer the most security as a thorough examination is conducted before it is provided, assuring visitors that the individual or company being represented is accurate and that the entity possesses the rights necessary to operate that website. These certificates should be used by any websites that ask customers to provide especially sensitive information such as credit card numbers.

 

Which Certificate to Get?

Websites that garner a low level of traffic and do not ask visitors for information more personal than usernames and passwords can use domain validation certificates. A couple of the main benefits of going this route is that these certificates are more affordable and issued much more quickly.

However, if you are or will be receiving a decent amount of traffic or asking your visitors for any financial information or other sensitive date such as addresses, telephone numbers or social security numbers, you should at least get an organization validation certificate.

The extended validation certificates do provide the most protection and trust, but they are also the most expensive and take the longest to receive. Medium to large organizations tend to be the ones most apt to purchase these, but you should definitely consider it if you are or plan to be in one of those categories.

At TurnKey Internet we offer SSL certificates on all of our hosting plans as well as include a free SSL with every Reseller and SEO package. If you have any questions regarding which SSL solution is right for you or how to get started, feel free to email our support team (helpdesk@turnkeyinternet.net)

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Disaster can strike at any time. From earthquakes to tornadoes to hurricanes, there is a wide variety of natural disasters that can take place and cause incredible damage to a business. In addition to natural disasters, businesses may also be harmed by fires, floods or IT issues. It is essential that businesses of all sizes have a comprehensive Disaster Recovery Plan.

Here are some of the issues that a business may face following a disaster and how they can ensure business continuity in the aftermath.

 

Dealing With Displacement

Many disasters can result in major physical damage to buildings and stores. This means that companies should have both an evacuation plan in place and a plan for dealing with the displacement that generally comes with major damage to a building. It may be days or weeks before a building is suitable for people to work in after a fire or a flood, and employees will still often still need a centralized location to work out of.

Organizations should determine ahead of time if employees will be expected to telecommute, if arrangements will be made to rent other facilities or if staff will be routed to other business locations. Some businesses may want to find a middle-ground where employees meet at certain locations a few times a week but do the majority of their work from home.

 

Employee Communication Systems

One of the major issues that companies run into, even when not dealing with a disaster, is how to communicate effectively. In many cases when there is a disaster, employees are no longer able to go to their normal workplace or call into a specific office to find out what is going on. Therefore, it’s important that a communication system is set up before a problem arises and one is needed.

There are a variety of ways to tackle communications following a disaster, including having a certain phone number that employees call to find out updates about the business. Alternatively, a mailing list or web page can be set up that allows employees to find out the status of a business and what they are expected to do.

 

Keep Copies of Physical Records

Although the paperless office has been a dream for decades, few businesses are completely digital. Most companies offer paper invoices, and customer contracts are almost always printed and signed in pen. This means that there is often a large amount of paperwork that should be stored in a computer but is not.

To ensure that physical records will still be accessible after a disaster, businesses should have a system in place for making and keeping copies of paperwork. A scanner can be employed to capture images of paperwork, and there are object character recognition software suites that can turn the scanned images into text. Once paperwork is in a computer system, it can then be uploaded to the cloud.

This brings us to one of, if not the most important component of a successful Disaster Recovery Plan, utilizing the cloud

 

Take Advantage of The Cloud

Cloud computing has changed the way that many businesses handle disaster recovery and business continuity planning. One of the biggest changes that being able to use a cloud backup has brought to the business world is the ability for smaller organizations to use the type of data recovery systems that historically were only available to large organizations.

Now, any business’ disaster recovery plan can include complete data backups that are off-site and redundant. Prior to cloud backup systems, businesses were often limited to storing data backups on-site. If a fire broke out or servers were damaged in some other way, on-site data would be lost. Off-site backups frequently required manually making copies of data and/or moving storage media to a different location before cloud computing streamlined the backup process.

The cloud now allows data to be saved automatically, and many businesses are working off of cloud-based systems at all times. Another major benefit of using the cloud for backups is that many other types of data storage have significant failure rates. Tapes, in particular, were used for decades as a method of storing backup data, but it has been found that they have about a 10 percent failure rate.

Cloud computing offers redundant file storage, so unlike with tapes or even hard drives that could potentially fail, data saved to the cloud is almost guaranteed to always be available. Systems can be set in place to back up data automatically, and cloud storage allows you to keep multiple copies of records with different time-stamps.

Another major benefit of using these types of backup systems is that they can be used almost anywhere. So long as an employee has access to the Internet, they should be able to log into the cloud and access business files and applications.

The Cloud is helping businesses recover their most critical systems and data faster, while also avoiding the expensive infrastructure costs of onsite or in-office datacenters. Leveraging the cloud is by far one of the best, most cost effective ways to protect your company and ensure business continuity when disaster strikes.

 

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