XFER Blog

Our mission goes far beyond providing exceptional managed IT services and technology consulting for businesses. While we’re obsessed with helping your company grow and succeed, we’re equally committed to supporting the health and well-being of our community. This past Friday, October 17, 2025, our team was honored to be an Ultraviolet Sponsor for the annual First Step "You Are the Light" Gala, a powerful event dedicated to ending intimate partner domestic violence and sexual assault.

The night was a resounding success, raising over $309,000 for a critical cause!

Once again, 100 scarecrows have descended on Plymouth’s Kellogg Park, first appearing on September 26 and remaining until November 2. We encourage you to stop by and review the many clever and creative scarecrows posted around the park… particularly ours!

You’ve probably heard a bit about blockchain. It’s a technology that is typically linked with cryptocurrencies, but its function is much more. It actually has the potential to transform everyday business operations significantly, if used properly. 

Forget the complex technical stuff. At its core, blockchain is like a highly secure and transparent digital record-keeping system. Imagine a shared ledger where every transaction or piece of agreed-upon information is recorded as a block. Once a block is added to the chain, it's cryptographically sealed—meaning it cannot be altered or deleted. Everyone with authorized access sees the same information, creating a foundation of trust and clarity.

There are a lot of ways that a business’ data is at risk. Hackers can inundate your network with malware, some kind of natural disaster can befall your place of business, you could be the victim of sabotage, or someone who works for you can just mistakenly delete a critical file. With so much risk, it’s a good idea to have a comprehensive backup and recovery plan in place so you have access to a copy of your data should any of these unfortunate situations come up.

Much has been made about artificial intelligence and the quickening pace in which it is being used in all walks of life, but especially business. AI is shaping the world around us, many people don’t really understand how it works or how to use it effectively. That’s where AI literacy comes in. In today’s blog, we’ll define AI literacy and how it will affect your organization in the near future.

Happy Valentine’s Day! While this holiday is all about love, it just so happens to fall smack in the middle of tax season in the United States. So, while you’re hoping to get a sweet message from that special someone, there’s a chance you might also receive a text or an email from the Internal Revenue Service… or is there?

As it turns out, you won’t… but that’s a fact that scammers are hoping you won’t know.

After the tragic events of September 11, 2001, terrorism became a topic everyone heard about daily. The "War on Terror" lasted over a decade, toppling governments and sending a clear message that terrorists would be hunted down relentlessly. While major terrorist attacks have happened since then, the battleground has shifted. Today, one of the biggest threats comes from cyberspace. Let's take a closer look at the rise of cyberterrorism.

Net neutrality has been a hot topic for years. The rules around it keep changing depending on who’s in charge of the government. Recently, things took a major step backward when the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) newest net neutrality rules.

As an information technology provider, we are tasked with helping your business make the best decisions possible related to your IT infrastructure. In this role, we offer a gentle recommendation that you purchase hardware you expect to need over the next year as soon as possible. If you don’t, you might be left high and dry without any good options to choose from.

Smart products are everywhere nowadays, ranging from video doorbells and assistants to more niche appliances… including breast pumps and floss dispensers. However, despite all of these devices being very different, most have one thing in common.

It just so happens that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission is concerned about this commonality, as it’s the fact that many don’t publicize when updates are available—or even provide them at all.

Happy New Year! The coming weeks and months hold great promise for us all. Unfortunately, “us all” includes cybercriminals and hackers looking to use cutting-edge tactics to their fullest advantage. As a result, it is even more necessary to be aware of and prepared for the cybersecurity threats that 2025 is likely to see.

Want to be a business without hearing how artificial intelligence is changing the industry? Good luck; it’s a big deal that this technology has flourished in recent years, and businesses have found all kinds of ways to implement it. While AI has significant capacity for growth and to be an excellent tool to help human society, a lack of AI regulation has led some to believe that it’s only a matter of time before something bad happens that ruins a good thing for everyone.

Subscriptions are nothing new in the business world, but they can be tough to track and, more importantly, cancel. Now, a new ruling from the Federal Trade Commission makes it easier than ever to cancel a subscription. Today, we want to discuss how this impacts you, your business, and your users.

The blockchain is a technology that many people know about, but cannot explain. They know it has something to do with Bitcoin, but can’t tell you exactly what. Well, whether you know next to nothing about blockchain, or you’re a seasoned crypto investor, you will be.

A business email compromise attack is a phishing scam in which a scammer uses email to take possession of capital—either in the form of data or actual finances—from the organization they choose to target. Lately, these scams have been observed to focus on schools.

Let’s review the situation at hand and what is at stake.

The recent CrowdStrike outage that disrupted many Microsoft-run systems has made headlines, even if it didn’t affect you directly. With so many organizations relying on Windows, this incident caused an unprecedented number of computer crashes, impacting over 8.5 million systems worldwide. The outage didn’t just cost businesses billions in lost revenue—it also led to the cancellation of 3,000 flights, throwing travel plans into chaos. As the largest outage in history, it served as a stark reminder that the technology we depend on daily isn’t foolproof. Today, we’ll explore key takeaways from the CrowdStrike outage and how businesses can better prepare for such events.

July 18th, 2024 saw one of the most widespread and devastating outages in recent memory, as a global update from cybersecurity company CrowdStrike brought about significant impacts to major infrastructures and societal needs. All this occurred even though only 1% of Windows operating systems experienced the issue.

Unfortunately, we have yet another reason to reflect on the importance of data backup, disaster recovery, and business continuity for organizations everywhere. A week ago today, Hurricane Beryl made landfall in Texas, downgrading to a tropical storm, but only after it had already caused estimated damages totaling over $5 million amongst the islands of middle America.

All businesses use technology to varying degrees, typically to improve operations or offer innovation through a service or product. SMBs often benefit from the increased use of technology in the business world, as it’s generally quite effective at solving their problems and accessible enough that even companies on a budget can afford it. Let’s look at some opportunities your own business might have in 2024.

Scams are a scary prospect, and with today’s technology and current events being what they are, it’s all the more important that you remain aware of them so you can avoid them. With a whole year ahead of us, let’s consider some scams and scam-based trends that will likely continue throughout.