IT insights, cybersecurity tips, and tech news for Utah businesses
School’s out, which means for many people the workday doesn’t look quite the same as it did a few weeks ago. Maybe you’re starting earlier so you can wrap up sooner. Maybe you’re working from home more, with a little extra background noise—Brutus barking, Johnny Jr. crying—and fewer stretches of uninterrupted time.
Every year around late June, we get the longest day of the year—more daylight, more usable hours, and at least in theory, more time to get things done. But most business owners don’t experience it that way. Even with extra daylight, the day tends to fill up just as quickly as any other. Meetings run long, unexpected issues pop up, and before you know it, you’re at the end of the day wondering how you ran out of time again.
Most people treat outdated technology like a favorite sock with a hole in it—clearly past its prime, but not bad enough to throw out yet. You notice it here and there, like when it suddenly takes forever to send a simple email, or when you hit save and the screen freezes like it forgot what it was doing.
Taking a reactive approach to IT might not feel like a problem in the moment. Most issues start small: a system slows down, a warning appears, or something feels slightly off but still works. Because nothing is actually broken, it gets pushed off in favor of more immediate priorities. Work continues. Everything seems fine.
While you’re firing up the grill or sitting in beach traffic, someone else is getting to work. They’ve been planning for this. They know which businesses will be running on skeleton crews and which alerts will go unanswered. They know that at most small businesses, the “IT person” is the one who gets called when the printer breaks, not someone actively watching a security dashboard at midnight. They also know that the window between Friday afternoon and Tuesday morning is 72 hours of quiet.
The email shows up on a Tuesday morning. It looks like it’s from the CEO. The name matches. The tone is right. Even the signature looks familiar. “Hey — can you help me with something quickly? I’m in back-to-back meetings. Need you to handle a vendor payment. I’ll explain later.” The new employee pauses.
Picture walking up to a house and lifting the welcome mat to find a key underneath. It’s convenient, predictable and exactly where someone with bad intentions would look first. Most businesses treat their passwords the same way.
