by admin | Oct 9, 2026 | Cybersecurity
All of us online have probably experienced this same panic: your screen displays a pop-up warning saying your device is infected with viruses.
Some of us have probably received a phone call from someone claiming to be from “technical support” who says they need immediate access to your computer.
Both are common types of a specific species of scam in our age of technology: the tech support scam.
These scams have been around for years, but they’re constantly evolving. Cybercriminals use convincing websites, fake security alerts, phone calls, text messages, emails, and even online ads to trick people into handing over their money, giving criminals remote access to their devices, or paying for unnecessary services.
Fortunately, once you know what to look for, tech support scams become easier to recognize in the wilds of the web.
What is a tech support scam?
A tech support scam is when criminals pretend to represent a technology company or IT support service. Their goal is to convince you that your computer, smartphone, or online account has a serious problem that requires immediate attention.
The scammer may claim your device is infected with malware, your accounts have been hacked, or your personal information is at risk. They then pressure you to take action, usually by calling a fake support number, downloading remote access software, or paying for unnecessary “repairs.”
In truth, though, there is no problem! The criminal is creating a fake emergency to steal your money, personal information, or access to your device.
How tech support scams work
Every scam is different, but many tech support scams follow a familiar pattern.
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You receive a fake warning. This could be a browser pop-up, text message, email, online ad, or unsolicited phone call claiming your device is infected or hacked.
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The scammer creates urgency. They warn that your files, passwords, or financial accounts are in immediate danger if you don’t act ASAP.
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Request for remote access. You may be instructed to install legitimate remote desktop software so the scammer can “fix” your device.
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They demand payment. After pretending to repair your computer (or even intentionally causing problems), they sometimes ask you to pay for fake technical support.
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They may steal even more. If given access, scammers can install malware, steal passwords, copy personal files, or gather financial information. They may ask to look at your bank accounts online, for example.
Common signs of a tech support scam
Be cautious if someone:
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Contacts you out of the blue about a problem with your device
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Claims to know your computer has a virus or has been hacked
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Pressures you to act immediately
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Asks you to install remote access software – they may even ask you to turn off antivirus software or accept warning messages from your computer.
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Requests payment through gift cards, cryptocurrency, wire transfers, or payment apps (these are all very hard to trace and reverse, so they are the preferred payment methods of scammers)
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Claims they represent a well-known technology company without you contacting them first
Legitimate technology companies generally do not monitor your computer for problems or contact you unexpectedly to offer repairs. In fact, they usually release security fixes via software updates, so we recommend making a habit of keeping your software and devices up to date!
What to do if you see a fake virus pop-up
One of the most common tech support scams involves alarming browser pop-ups claiming your computer is infected. This often happens immediately after clicking a link, especially a link in search results or online ads. Some even play loud audio or prevent you from easily closing the page!
If you encounter one:
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Don’t click any buttons in the pop-up.
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Don’t call the phone number displayed.
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Close the browser using your task manager, or force-quit the application if necessary.
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You may have to power off your computer by holding the power button until it turns off – if you have a PC, you can press CTRL+ALT+DELETE until you get a menu, then go to the task manager and “end task,” but for most of us just forcing the computer to shut down is probably the fastest solution.
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Restart your browser.
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Run a scan using security software you already trust.
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Update your operating system and browser if updates are available.
The pop-up itself usually isn’t scanning your computer. It’s trying to scare you into contacting the scammer.
What if you already gave a scammer access?
If you think you allowed a scammer to remotely access your device, act quickly.
Disconnect your computer from the internet. Remove (uninstall) any remote access software the scammer asked you to install. Then, use a different trusted device to change the passwords for your email, banking, and other important accounts. Remember to enable multifactor authentication (MFA) wherever possible.
If you entered payment information or made a payment, contact your bank or credit card company immediately. Monitor your financial accounts for suspicious activity and consider reporting the incident to the appropriate authorities, such as your local police department and the FBI via IC3.gov.
How to protect yourself from tech support scams
The best defense against this type of scam is knowing what legitimate tech support looks like and what it doesn’t.
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Be skeptical of every unsolicited call, email, text, and pop-up, especially if they claim your device has a problem.
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Never give remote access to someone who contacted you unexpectedly.
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Only seek technical support through a company’s official website or customer service channels. Go to the physical store if you can.
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Keep your operating system, browser, and software updated.
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Use long, unique passwords for every account and store them in a password manager.
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Enable MFA whenever it’s available.
Disconnect from fake tech support!
Tech support scams succeed because they trigger panic. The warnings sound urgent, the messages look official, and the scammers often appear knowledgeable and professional. This type of scam can work on many of us if we don’t take time to slow down. If someone claims your device is infected or compromised, pause before taking action. Verify the claim through official channels. And for more cybersecurity tips, sign up for our free email newsletter.
FAQs
What is a tech support scam?
A tech support scam is a type of fraud in which criminals impersonate technology experts or representatives of trusted companies. They claim your device has a problem and try to trick you into paying for fake services or giving them access to your computer.
How can I tell if a tech support call is a scam?
A tech support call is likely a scam if you did not request help and the caller claims your device has a virus, demands immediate action, requests remote access, or asks for payment via unusual methods such as gift cards or cryptocurrency.
Can a pop-up message detect a virus on my computer?
Most unexpected virus warning pop-ups are scams. A website or browser pop-up cannot reliably scan your device for malware.
What should I do if I gave a scammer remote access to my computer?
Disconnect your device from the internet, remove any remote access software the scammer installed, and change your passwords using a trusted device.
Originally posted on National Cybersecurity Alliance
by admin | Oct 5, 2026 | Health & Wellness, Hot Topics, Human Resources, Uncategorized
baseWhen HR leaders evaluate employee retention, it is vital to recognize that turnover rarely starts with a formal resignation letter; instead, it often begins much earlier and much more quietly through subtle signs of disengagement. In today’s highly connected workplace, social withdrawal—such as skipping lunch with coworkers, declining meetings, or contributing less in Slack—can serve as one of the earliest indicators that an employee is considering an exit. Although voluntary turnover has decreased to 13.5 percent from 24.7 percent in 2022, lower turnover does not equal higher engagement, with Gallup reporting that over half of U.S. workers are actively looking or keeping an eye on outside opportunities, and one in three would consider leaving without another job lined up. Gallup terms this trend the “Great Detachment,” where employees appear productive on the surface while emotionally disconnecting from the organization.
The Root Cause: Missing Relationships, Not Just Missing Perks
While compensation, career growth, workload, and flexibility matter, they do not tell the full retention story because employees often leave due to a lack of meaningful relationships rather than just job gaps. When employees feel excluded from informal conversations, disconnected from peers, or removed from collaboration, their sense of belonging erodes.
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Employees situated on the outer edges of an organization’s network—possessing few meaningful workplace connections—are two to three times more likely to leave.
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Some employees intentionally move themselves to the edge by choosing to reduce collaboration and pull back from coworkers, mirroring research from Thred showing that recently resigned employees had 36 percent fewer connections than the average and double the likelihood of reporting no workplace friendships.
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Conversely, highly connected employees are 24 percent less likely to leave than those with fewer relationships.
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Employees who share dual-purpose relationships blending professional collaboration with personal rapport are 37 percent less likely to quit than those with strictly transactional connections.
The Ripple Effect of Central Departures
While central connectors stabilize teams, they also introduce organizational risk if they become burned out or frustrated. When a central employee exits, research suggests that up to 25 percent of their immediate network may follow in subsequent months, creating a relational chain reaction where one departure influences others to reassess their own future.
Actionable Strategies for HR Leaders
To address quiet detachment before it turns into a formal goodbye, HR teams can implement four practical strategies:
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Use network analysis to identify early warning signs: Conduct regular organizational network analyses or look out for behavioral changes like quietness, decreased participation, and leaning back.
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Create intentional opportunities for connection: Foster meaningful human connection through interest-based matching, peer mentoring, curated mixers, and team exchanges, particularly in hybrid or remote environments.
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Build teams where relationships can deepen: Encourage cross-functional collaboration and cultivate psychologically safe environments where employees can ask for help and show up beyond their job titles.
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Stay close to highly connected employees: Conduct regular check-ins with central employees who hold outsized influence on morale to identify risks before they trigger a broader talent drain.
by admin | Sep 30, 2026 | Custom Content, Employee Benefits
Employee benefits are one of the largest investments organizations make in their people. Yet, simply offering a strong benefits package doesn’t guarantee a strong return on that investment.
The organizations that get the best return on their benefits spend understand that benefits are more than a line item on the budget. They are a tool for attracting and retaining talent, supporting employee wellbeing, improving engagement, and helping people stay productive.
The key is making sure employees understand, value, and actually use the benefits available to them.
Start With What Employees Actually Need
One of the biggest mistakes employers can make is designing benefits around assumptions rather than employee needs.
Workforces are increasingly diverse in age, family situation, financial circumstances, health needs, and career stage. A benefit that is highly valuable to one employee may be irrelevant to another. Regular employee surveys, utilization data, focus groups, and feedback from HR teams can help identify where benefits are delivering value and where there are gaps.
Instead of asking only, “What benefits should we offer?” employers should also ask:
- What benefits do employees value most?
- Which benefits are underused?
- Why aren’t employees using them?
- What challenges are employees trying to solve?
- Where are employees paying for solutions outside the workplace?
Look Beyond the Cost of the Benefit
Benefits ROI shouldn’t be measured solely by how much a program costs. The bigger question is what the organization receives in return. For example, a benefits program may contribute to lower turnover, fewer unplanned absences, stronger employee engagement, or improved productivity. Those outcomes can be significantly more valuable than the cost of the benefit itself.
Consider the potential cost of replacing a valued employee. Recruiting, onboarding, training, lost productivity, and the time required for a new employee to become fully effective can add up quickly. If a well-designed benefits strategy helps retain even a small number of employees, the resulting savings may substantially offset the investment.
Make Benefits Easy to Understand
A benefit employees don’t understand is a benefit they may never use.
Benefits can be complicated. Employees may struggle to understand insurance options, retirement plans, wellness programs, voluntary benefits, leave policies, or other offerings. When information is buried in a handbook or presented once during open enrollment, employees can easily miss its value.
Effective benefits communication should be:
- Simple: Explain benefits in clear, everyday language.
- Timely: Provide information when employees are most likely to need it.
- Accessible: Make information easy to find throughout the year.
- Relevant: Tailor communications to different employee needs and life stages.
Communication shouldn’t be treated as an annual event. Benefits should remain visible and relevant throughout the employee experience.
Measure Utilization and Outcomes
You can’t improve benefits ROI if you don’t measure it. Employers should regularly review metrics such as enrollment, participation, utilization, employee satisfaction, turnover, absenteeism, and healthcare spending.
For example, if an employee assistance program has low participation, the answer isn’t necessarily to eliminate it. Low usage could indicate that employees don’t know about the program, don’t understand how confidential it is, or don’t know when they should use it.
Similarly, high utilization isn’t automatically a sign that a program is successful. Employers should consider whether the benefit is producing the outcomes it was intended to achieve. The goal is to move from measuring benefit activity to measuring business impact.
Optimize Your Existing Benefits Before Adding More
More benefits don’t necessarily mean better benefits.
Before adding another program, employers should evaluate whether existing offerings are being fully utilized. A benefits package can become unnecessarily expensive and confusing when new programs are continually added without evaluating older ones.
A periodic benefits audit can identify:
- Programs with consistently low participation.
- Overlapping or redundant offerings.
- Benefits that employees don’t understand.
- Opportunities to improve employee communication.
- Programs that no longer align with workforce needs.
Sometimes the best way to improve ROI isn’t to spend more–it’s to make better use of what you already have.
Treat Benefits as Part of Your Talent Strategy
Benefits shouldn’t operate in isolation from recruiting, retention, culture, and employee experience. Candidates evaluate the entire employment package when deciding where to work. Employees also consider benefits when deciding whether to stay. A competitive benefits package can help answer an important employee question: “Why should I build my career here?”
The strongest approach combines four elements: Understand your employees. Communicate effectively. Measure results. Optimize benefits.
Getting the best ROI from benefits isn’t simply about reducing costs or adding more programs. It’s about making strategic decisions about where benefits dollars can have the greatest impact.
by admin | Sep 21, 2026 | Human Resources
Company culture is shaped by many factors and can evolve at any time. As workplaces become increasingly tech-driven, organizations can use HR data strategically to enhance the employee experience and build a thriving environment. By relying on accurate data, HR professionals gain a clearer understanding of what employees truly value and need, making it easier to cultivate a positive, authentic workplace culture.
What Is HR Data?
HR data encompasses the metrics and organizational insights gathered and reviewed by HR professionals, covering everything from daily performance and engagement to workforce demographics, compensation, and skills. This information is pulled from a variety of systems, including attendance trackers, payroll platforms, employee records, evaluations, and surveys.
Key Examples of HR Data
HR data spans numerous facets of the employee lifecycle, including:
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Recruitment and hiring: Tracking metrics like candidate sources and time to fill roles.
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Employee demographics: Monitoring attributes such as age, educational background, and gender.
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Performance data: Reviewing performance evaluations and key performance indicators (KPIs).
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Employee engagement: Measuring satisfaction levels through surveys and direct feedback.
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Absenteeism and turnover: Tracking rates for absences alongside voluntary and involuntary departures.
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Compensation and benefits: Analyzing salaries, bonus structures, and benefit packages.
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Employee feedback: Assessing employee complaints and tracking resolution timelines.
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Learning and development: Reviewing training completion, certifications, skills assessments, and professional development programs.
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Succession planning: Evaluating advancement potential, promotion readiness, and talent pipelines.
Uncovering Insights and Taking Action
Beyond formal metrics, all forms of feedback—including informal discussions, focus groups, surveys, and insights gathered during department or team meetings—serve as valuable HR data. Ultimately, gathering and analyzing these metrics helps organizations pinpoint specific areas that require intervention, ensuring leadership can make informed decisions to continuously improve the workplace.
by admin | Sep 13, 2026 | health, Wellness
As summer turns to fall, a few simple habits can help protect your energy, mood, and routine through the shorter, colder days ahead.
The transition from summer to fall can feel refreshing but often disrupts routines. Shorter days and colder weather reduce exposure to sunlight, which may affect circadian rhythms, energy, and mood. This can lead to fatigue, sadness, or loss of motivation. Ending daylight saving time often intensifies sleep disruptions and irritability. Colder weather also makes it harder to stay active—yet maintaining physical activity is essential, since reduced movement is strongly linked to worsening depression and low mood.
Practical Ways to Stay Balanced in Fall and Winter:
- Seek light: Get sunlight daily, open blinds early, or try light therapy to support your body’s rhythm.
- Stay active: Keep moving with walks, stretching, or indoor exercise—physical activity strongly protects mood.
- Keep a routine: Stick to consistent sleep and meal times to stabilize energy.
- Build anticipation: Plan enjoyable activities or rituals to give yourself something positive to look forward to.
- Stay connected: Reach out to friends, coworkers, or family to prevent isolation.
While the seasonal shift brings inevitable changes to our environment and routines, you don’t have to simply endure the colder months. Taking a proactive approach now helps ensure that autumn and winter remain a season of steady balance rather than burnout.
