Capstone Works Blog

A Message for Business Owners:
Please pass this blog post around to your staff, as it raises many important issues that will not only help protect them as employees but as typical Internet users as well. Most cybersecurity incidents today are caused by user error, which means that many problems could be avoided by simple awareness.

In today's interconnected world, the Internet serves as an indispensable tool for communication, commerce, and entertainment. However, with great power comes great responsibility. The convenience of online transactions and social interactions is tempered by the risks posed by cybercriminals. This guide aims to arm you with the necessary strategies to navigate the web safely, ensuring that your personal information remains private and protected. By understanding and implementing the recommended safety measures, you can confidently engage in online activities without compromising your security.

AI is transforming the business landscape. One tool leading this revolution is ChatGPT.

But what is ChatGPT? The AI chatbot is essentially a virtual assistant that can automate tasks, enhance customer service, and even assist in content creation. In broad terms, ChatGPT can perform some tasks that would normally require human intelligence. Like a human, it’s far from perfect, but there are a lot of interesting ways the AI can help you.

This guide will show you how to use ChatGPT for your business, offering practical tips and strategies to leverage this powerful AI tool for business growth.

With 2024 ending and 2025 rapidly approaching, it’s time to reflect on the past year and start planning out your objectives for the next. While there are likely going to be a lot of things business owners won’t be able to predict over the next year, business IT can be pretty formulaic as long as you are proactive.

In this guide, we’re going to go over the basics so your business doesn’t end up being blindsided by some of these critical IT budgeting situations.

We put together this guide to educate business owners and decision-makers on the core tenets of cybersecurity. While this might seem like a boring topic, it’s becoming increasingly important for business owners to understand. We tried to keep this as technologically simplistic as we could. If you have any questions at all or want to sit down and discuss your organization’s cybersecurity, we’re happy to book a call.

One quick fun tangent before we start—we originally had 6 pillars, and since all of them happened to start with the letter C, we almost called them the 6 C’s of Cybersecurity. When we added the 7th, which also happened to start with C, we figured we were starting to sound like pirates roaming the seven seas. We ultimately switched to calling them pillars, but kept some of the sailing motifs.

The 7 Pillars of Cybersecurity are the fundamental principles that form the backbone of any robust cybersecurity strategy. Putting them all together will give you a comprehensive, well-rounded defense plan for your business that is actionable and sustainable.

The clock is ticking for Windows 10.

In just 12 months, this widely-used operating system will reach its end of life (EOL).

Sometimes, you can save a lot of money by doing something yourself. I had to replace a gutter on my roof the other day. I figured hey, I have a ladder, a hammer, and a free afternoon… I can do that! Maybe I’ll learn something from it too!

Several hours and a trip to the hardware store later, I wasn’t feeling as good about it, but I got the job done!

The reason I bring this up is because every so often when talking to a business owner about managing their IT for them, they hit me with “I can do that! Updates? Antivirus scans? That’s not that big of a deal.” 

So let’s take a look at what goes into a comprehensive IT maintenance package, for business owners who are willing to roll up their sleeves.

Depending on who you ask, you are going to get different opinions on the remote work vs work-from-the-office debate. On one hand, there has been evidence that it increases productivity, and other experts claim it does the opposite. While most workers see it as a perk, other professionals make career decisions based on whether they can work from home or not.

Either way, remote work in some form or fashion is here to stay for many businesses, and that means shifting the security dynamic to accommodate it.

We originally set out to talk about specific IT security best practices to have for organizations that provide work-from-home options, but really, 99% of these security practices should be in place regardless of where your employees are sitting. There are some configurations to consider, sure, but generally, the stuff your business implements for security is going to look pretty similar either way.

It’s time to have a hard conversation.

As a business owner, manager, or even as an employee taking the reins on their career; there are things you can do to make significant improvements to your business.

But you don’t.

It’s holding you back. Let’s fix that, today.

It was essentially what everyone expected Y2K to be, over 24 years ago.

The world’s biggest (so far) IT catastrophe forced hospitals to cancel surgeries, shuttered 911 call centers, crippled banks, and left travelers stranded at airports.

It wasn’t a cyberattack, and it didn’t come with a warning, but it had a massive impact on the world and is causing business owners and decision makers to think a little differently about their technology. Let’s talk about the CrowdStrike outage and what we all need to take away from this disaster.

At Capstone, we’re different from other IT companies. For us, it’s not about selling hardware or locking companies into a yearly contract. Instead, our goal is to help small businesses grow, utilizing technology to make them more effective. We take pride in being the shield between your business and the looming IT problems that you potentially face.

For smaller businesses especially, there has been a stigma when it comes to IT over the last several years. Business owners have a lot to contend with, and IT can seem like another roadblock—a necessary evil. IT is almost in the same vein as needing business insurance, except some business owners are even more willing to take the risk to skip proper IT management because the repercussions aren’t as clear and defined.

It’s time to stop looking at IT as an expense, and see it as an opportunity for your organization to accomplish more in the workday—it’s all about how well it is implemented and used.

In the Lone Star State, businesses are always looking for ways to stay ahead of the curve, and implementing artificial intelligence (AI) is quickly becoming a competitive necessity. However, before Texas businesses dive into the world of AI, there are critical steps that must be taken to ensure a successful integration. From cybersecurity audits to setting clear expectations, this guide outlines 14 essential steps your Texas business should consider before pulling the trigger on AI.

In the world of cybersecurity, zero-day exploits are the hairline cracks in your armor that you can’t see. They are the unseen flaw in your perfect strategy that the other team has a planned counterattack for.

These exploits can be found in virtually any type of software, from your operating systems like Windows, to your web browser, to your business applications. 

For small businesses in Austin and Central Texas, these threats are especially real. With limited resources, staying ahead of these cyberthreats can feel like a daunting task.

In this article, we'll shed light on zero-day exploits and share tips on how to guard your business against them. Stay alert, stay informed, and stay one step ahead.

Earlier this month, a local healthcare system comprising dozens of Austin-based hospitals, clinics, and other facilities suffered a cyberattack. We wanted to share some lessons that local business owners can learn from this situation, because a single attack like this can result in a snowball effect that can end up costing you a lot of time, money, and reputation.

Technology has been moving fast over the last few years… or has it? 

It depends on who you ask, and how they interact with it every day. This post is for those of us who are frankly too busy to really dive into the waters of cutting-edge technology, but want to make sure we’re not leaving money on the table when it comes to operating our businesses.

AI is here. It’s no longer a futuristic concept, and it is transformative. At the same time, it’s also a little bit of a marketing buzzword. Let’s clear up this very complex topic—hopefully by the end of this article, you’ll be able to make some actionable decisions on AI and your business.

In the heart of Texas, Austin law firms are facing a new era. The legal landscape is changing rapidly, driven by the rise of modern technology. Lawyers are now leveraging technology to streamline their operations. From eSignature to cloud document storage, the digital revolution is here. It's transforming the way law firms work, enhancing efficiency and ensuring compliance.

But how exactly is technology reshaping the legal sector in Austin? What are the key technology solutions that Austin law firms should adopt?

Data breaches can lead to significant financial losses, damage to reputation, and loss of customer trust.

Data breach prevention is not just about technology. It's about understanding the risks, implementing robust security measures, and fostering a culture of cybersecurity within your organization.

When you think about the data your business processes and stores on a day-to-day basis, it’s pretty easy to disconnect it from the people you do business with. After all, it’s your company data. That being said, a lot of the information that businesses collect comes from their customers. If something happens to that data, whether it is lost, stolen, breached, or sold, it can have a negative impact on your customers, which not only looks very bad for you, it can also result in legal action.

Austin, Texas is a thriving tech hub, sometimes called Silicon Hills. With an active tech scene and a growing number of tech companies, there is a lot of opportunity for a small business to grow and thrive. To stay competitive in this tech-savvy environment, businesses in Austin need to embrace technology and ensure they have reliable IT support. A good IT consultant can help businesses in Austin navigate the complex world of technology, providing expertise and support to keep their operations running smoothly and securely.

By choosing the best Austin-based managed IT consultant for their needs, businesses can benefit from specialized services tailored to their requirements. Whether it's network security, data backup and recovery, or cloud services, a reputable IT consultant can help businesses in Austin optimize their technology infrastructure and stay ahead of the competition.

Just about every business owner finds themselves searching for a trusted IT consulting service at some point. Establishing and maintaining a complex business network is essentially a full-time job, and even the smallest businesses start to run into some pretty tough hurdles when it comes to this process. Once you mix in the modern-day line of business applications, user management/active directory, and cybersecurity best practices, even the most technical users are going to fall short of the knowledge and skill required to keep the gears turning.

We all use email almost every day for work. Day after day, week after week, our inboxes are flooded with notifications, password resets, correspondence, invoices, marketing stuff, and countless other types of information. Have you ever thought about what a cybercriminal could accomplish if they had access to your email inbox?