PathWise IT

Everybody has backups until the day they need them. That is the day a lot of businesses discover the backups have been silently failing for months.

A backup you have never restored from is not a backup. It is a hope. Here is what a real restore test actually checks.

Full breakdown on the blog.

Your Backups Are Only as Good as Your Last Restore Test Everybody has backups until the day they need them. That is the day a lot of businesses discover the backups have been silently failing for months.

🧑‍💻🎉 Happy National IT Professionals Day

Today we recognize the people who keep businesses running,
problems prevented,
and systems secure — often without much fanfare.

Your work matters more than most people realize.
Thank you for what you do. 🙌

The employee's last day was Friday. On Monday, their email still works, their laptop is in a drawer, and nobody has touched their access to the file server.

A departing employee is a security event, whether they left on good terms or bad ones. Here is what usually gets missed.

Full breakdown on the blog.

What Actually Happens When You Offboard an Employee (And What Usually Gets Missed) The employee’s last day was Friday. On Monday, their email still works, their laptop is sitting in a drawer, and nobody has touched their access to the file server.

You hired someone to run your IT. They are good. They are also one person, and they cannot be in two places at once.

Co-managed IT means your internal person keeps their job and gets a team behind them, instead of getting replaced by one. Here is who it actually fits.

Full breakdown on the blog.

Co-Managed IT: When You Have an IT Person and Still Need Help You hired someone to run your IT. They are good. They are also one person, and they cannot be in two places at once.

Your staff are already using AI at work. The only open question is whether they are doing it with any guidance from you.

An acceptable use policy does not need to be thirty pages. It needs to answer a few practical questions: what data never goes in, which tools are approved, and who owns the output.

Full breakdown on the blog.

An AI Acceptable Use Policy You Can Actually Write This Week Your staff are already using AI at work. The only open question is whether they are doing it with any guidance from you.

🧑‍💻🛠️ Happy System Administrator Appreciation Day

To the people behind the scenes keeping everything running —
and only getting noticed when it doesn’t —
we see you. 🙌

Proud of the work our team does every day for our clients!

(And yes, we rebooted it already.)

If you need any merchandise made for your company, The Customization Station is who you want to talk to!

The first cyber insurance application you filled out was a page long. The renewal in front of you is not.

Insurers now ask about MFA, EDR, tested backups, and incident response plans, and the answers are conditions of coverage. Check a box for a control you do not actually have and you have created a reason for the claim to be denied.

Full breakdown on the blog.

What a Cyber Insurance Renewal Looks Like Now (And Why You’ll Fail Without MFA) The first cyber insurance application you filled out was a page long. The renewal sitting in front of you is not.

You set up SPF years ago and never thought about it again. That is the problem.

SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are the records that tell Gmail and Outlook your mail is really from you. When they are missing or half-configured, spammers can impersonate your domain and your own legitimate email lands in spam.

Full breakdown on the blog.

Your Email Authentication Is Probably Misconfigured. Here’s How to Tell. You set up SPF years ago and never thought about it again. That is the problem.

Tomorrow we're loading up and making the drive north to Corvallis for the Chamber's tiki golf tournament.

A little further than our usual haunts, but the good ones are worth the gas. PathWise IT will be out on the course, leis on, doing our best impression of people who know what they're doing with a golf club.

If you're playing, come find us. We're the ones who look like we took the tiki theme a little too seriously. Happy to talk shop, talk anything but shop, or just hand you something cold.

Corvallis Chamber of Commerce puts on a good event. Come check it out.

https://www.corvallischamber.com/chamber-golf-scramble

🌺⛳

Chamber Golf Scramble | Corvallis Chamber of Commerce | Corvallis Join us for the 42nd Annual Chamber Golf Scramble on July 10, 2025. Support local businesses & engage with the community!