FAQ & Answers to Common
Technology Questions

what areas does pivotal it service?

Pivotal IT has clients in Spartanburg, Inman, Lyman, Landrum, Duncan, Greer, Greenville, Anderson, Seneca and surrounding areas in South Carolina, as well as Tryon, Columbus, Hendersonville in Western North Carolina. Our service area is anywhere within 100 mile radius of the 29302 zip code.

what are ACCESS controls and what does it have to do with HIPPA, Sarbanes-oxley
and other regulatory REQUIREMENTS?

With an ever growing number of devices connecting to your network with trends such as BYOD, regulatory compliance can be more complex than ever before. Network Access Control has evolved from simply controlling network access, into a more advanced use of mitigating risks.In today's cyber security landscape, threats can just as easily come from inside your network as they do from outside of it. Pivotal IT provides a number of solutions including access controls, network segmentation and assistance in helping you implement policies and procedures that protect sensitive data, mitigate risk, and satisfy regulatory requirements.

what is the purpose of a firewall and is IT necessary?

Antivirus software alone is not sufficient to protect your network and the critical data it holds. A firewall can help prevent many types of cyber attacks and malicious software from gaining access to your systems by scanning traffic to and from the Internet at your network edge.Firewalls are the critical gateway to your network and should be installed, configured and monitored according to your industry standard. Pivotal IT provides a range of next-generation firewalls from some of the most trusted names in technology, with options tailored to your specific business requirements and budget.

Firewalls are the critical gateway to your network and should be installed, configured and monitored according to your industry standard. Pivotal IT provides a range of next-generation firewalls from some of the most trusted names in technology, with options tailored to your specific business requirements and budget.

What is internet gateway protection?

Gateway or edge protection works to protect employees/users from accessing and being infected by malicious Web traffic, websites and virus/malware. It also ensures the implementation and compliance of your organization's regulatory policy.

Pivotal IT's Gateway solutions include hardware, antivirus and antispyware software to work in conjunction with your firewall to scan all network traffic for worms, Trojans, software vulnerabilities, backdoor exploits and other malicious attacks.  Proactive alerts whenever a threat is detected and real time file analysis provide peace of mind that your network and data are secure.

i know my employees are careful online, is ANTIVIRUS REALLY NECESSARY?

Cyber Attacks targeting end users and user devices are on the rise and counting on end users to do the right thing is not an effective security strategy. It's estimated that more than 82 percent of data breaches are due to errors at the end point and these areas represent the largest and fastest growing targets for cyber criminals.

To help you and your entire organization stay two steps ahead of cyber threats, Pivotal IT has partnered with industry leaders Webroot Technologies to provide endpoint antivirus powered by the latest machine learning technologies and Huntress managed detection and response to protect your network and devices in real-time from even the most advanced threats.
We also offer a Breach Protection Platform and provide free annual End User Security training for all clients.

What is the difference between a firewall and a UTM appliance?

UTM stands for Unified Threat Management and these appliances are one of the most widely used for enterprise grade information security. Typically, a Firewall includes application intelligence and intrusion prevention.  UTM appliances have these features as well as other technologies.

Managed UTM Appliances from Pivotal IT are tailored to and configured for the needs of your business, with solutions that include gateway antivirus, anti-malware, anti-spam, intrusion prevention, application control, SSL VPN and more.  Unified threat management provides you with multiple security technologies integrated on a single platform.

wHAT DOES EMAIL ENCRYPTION PROTECT AGAINST?

Almost every business depends on email as a primary means of communication.  But, email is also one of the main sources of viruses, malicious links and malware. Email encryption helps to protect against these threats and other security exploits that can lead to data breaches, downtime and even litigation.

Industry compliance requirements compel businesses to ensure email is secure. Compliant Email Security from Pivotal IT protects your business from email threats and encrypts your email for secure transmission of confidential information, boosting confidence with your clients and contacts while helping you to satisfy regulatory requirements.

What does it mean to ARCHIVE your email?

Email Archiving preserves and protects all inbound and outbound email messages, attachments and metadata by capturing the information directly from the email server, so it can be accessed at another time.

Many compliance regulations require preserving business communications, including the HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley, and Gramm-Leach-Bliley Acts. Email Archiving from Pivotal IT helps you protect your confidential information and archives all inbound and outbound email communication for e-discovery across your organization.

what options do I have for REMOTE employees to access network and data?

Secure VPN's (Virtual Private Networks) are used to connect individual hosts to private networks, such as employees working remotely that need to securely connect to a work server to access or save files.

Remote access VPNs require the host to run VPN client software which encapsulates and encrypts the traffic before sending it over the internet to the target network. Get your offices and remote workers securely connected to your network with Secure VPN networking solutions designed by Pivotal IT.

I have offices in several locations, whats the most EFFICIENT way to connect them?

Site to Site Virtual Private Networks are used to connect an entire network to another, such as a branch office in South Carolina connecting to company headquarters in North Carolina.

Traffic is sent and received through a Site to Site VPN through a secure, configured VPN gateway that is responsible for encrypting outbound traffic. Pivotal IT is here to help your remote locations stay connected and secure with Site to Site VPN design, setup, and configuration based on your organization's needs.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE A FILE BASED DATA BACKUP AND AN IMAGE BASED DATA BACKUP?

A file-based backup does exactly what it sounds like: you choose which files you want to back up, and those files are saved to an on-site device or to the cloud, but only the files you choose are saved. 

Image-based backup, on the other hand, captures an image of your data in its environment, giving you exact replications of what is stored on a server—including the operating system, configurations, settings, and preferences.  If a server goes down, you can restore it in minutes, (yes, minutes) - rather than the hours or days it would take to requisition a new server, and install and configure the operating system.

Pivotal IT offers a full range of managed backup solutions, tailored to the needs of your business.  Contact us today for to get started!

what IS the difference between backup and business continuity?

Much more than simply backing up your files, Business Continuity provides continuous protection of your critical data.  Whether your server crashes, you lose files, or you fall victim a malicious cyber-attack, your data is protected.

Whether you need a backup to recover quickly in the event of a disaster, or a continuity solution that provides for quick virtualization on site or in the cloud, Business Continuity Services from Pivotal IT can help.

Visit our Backup and Data Recovery page  for more information on our hybrid backup solutions and our Resources page for free Business Continuity planning tools.

Is your network assessment really free?

Yes! First, let's be clear: This is not a "bait and switch" offer.

Our network assessments are agent-less, do not install any software on your machines. The small executable scan files run from a thumb drive plugged into any computer in your domain, and in most cases the scans can be completed in well under an hour, depending on the size and scope of your network.
This assessment leaves no "traces" of activity, does not conflict with other applications, firewalls or other network hardware. Once the scan is complete and the information is analyzed, we will provide you with the following detailed information and reports:

• Asset Detail Report to provide you with detailed information for each of the individual assets connected to your network.
• Risk Report detailing your overall risk score based on the health of your network, including charts to show problem areas
• Full Detail Report includes every detail, presented in line-item fashion. This report is organized by section with a table of contents to help you locate the specific findings of interest, and problem areas are conveniently highlighted in red, making it easy to spot individual problems to be rectified.