Business IT & Cybersecurity Insights for Northeastern Massachusetts Firms

Practical IT Guidance to Reduce Risk, Improve Uptime, and Support Growth

Slingshot Blog & Knowledge Base: Business IT tips and cybersecurity insights

Welcome to the Slingshot Blog — a resource for professional firms and growing businesses across Northeastern Massachusetts. We share practical IT and cybersecurity guidance to help organizations protect client data, reduce downtime, and make better technology decisions.

You’ll find straightforward advice on cybersecurity, managed IT, cloud services, Microsoft 365, backup and disaster recovery, compliance, productivity, and long-term technology planning. Our articles, checklists, tutorials, and free eBooks are written for law firms, accounting and financial offices, architecture and design firms, veterinary practices, and other professional service organizations.

Our goal is simple: help your team stay secure, productive, and prepared for what’s next. The guidance here is based on nearly three decades of hands-on experience supporting businesses that depend on technology every day.

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Tech Tips

Message Size Limit Exceeded? Here’s What to Do Now

Stan Patey

Outlook says your file is too big to send? Learn why attachments bounce, the real size limits for each email provider, and the one-minute fix.

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Featured, Law Firms, Tech Tips

Protect Company Data on Personal Phones with Microsoft 365

Stan Patey

Employees use personal phones to access Microsoft 365 email and files. Learn how Intune protects company data without taking control of personal devices.

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Accounting, Cybersecurity, Featured, Law Firms, Professional Firms

Cybersecurity Breach Response: Lessons From the Other Side

Stan Patey

What can businesses learn from professionals who respond when cyberattacks succeed? Lessons on prevention, breach response, recovery, and the risks created when vendors hold your data.

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Business Tips, Cybersecurity, Featured, Tech Tips

1Password: Stop Remembering Passwords

Stan Patey

Passwords shouldn’t make your job harder. See how 1Password makes everyday logins easier while improving password security across your business.

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Business Tips, Cybersecurity, Featured

When AI Gets the Keys to Your Microsoft 365 Account

Stan Patey

AI isn’t just something employees use anymore. AI applications can connect directly to Microsoft 365, access business information and potentially take actions. Here’s what business owners need to know.

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Cybersecurity, Featured

Can Your Business Survive an AI-Powered Cyberattack?

Stan Patey

Attackers only need one weakness. Learn how layered cybersecurity can help your business prevent an AI-powered cyberattack, contain the damage and recover.

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Business Tips, Cybersecurity, Featured

Have Your Cybersecurity and IT Needs Outgrown Your IT Provider?

Stan Patey

Your IT provider may fix problems quickly, but is that enough? See what modern cybersecurity, backup, compliance and technology planning should include.

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Cybersecurity, Professional Firms

Outbound Email Security: Two Layers of Protection for Client Data

Stan Patey

As part of PartnerCare, we protect outbound email two ways: catching sensitive data before it leaves your inbox, and stopping a hijacked account before it can reach your clients.

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Cybersecurity, Law Firms

Is Your Team Accidentally Handing Client Secrets to ChatGPT?

Stan Patey

Your associates are probably already using ChatGPT to draft memos or tighten up filings. A federal ruling this year means those conversations can be used as evidence — and aren’t protected the way a conversation...

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Business Tips, Tech Tips, Windows

Why Windows 11 Storage Sense Might Be Deleting Your Downloads

Stan Patey

A client’s entire Downloads folder disappeared overnight — no user error involved, just Windows 11 Storage Sense quietly doing what it’s set to do. Here’s where that setting hides and how to shut it off...

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Business Tips

Long-Term Business Relationships: What a 40-Year Reunion Taught Me About Trust

Stan Patey

The Relationships We Never Really Lose Yesterday, I received an email from my cousin that immediately caught my attention. A man had stopped into the office of Geo. S. Patey & Sons Plumbing & Heating...

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Cybersecurity, Law Firms, Phishing

AI Voice Cloning Is Behind a New Law Firm Wire Fraud Scam

Stan Patey

A cloned voice nearly authorized a $250,000 wire transfer, until the firm’s verification protocol caught it in time.

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Accounting, Cybersecurity, Law Firms

Dark Web Exposure Scan for Law Firms: What the EY Breach Means for You

Stan Patey

Ernst & Young — one of the world’s largest accounting firms — just filed data breach notices after client tax documents were exposed. If a firm with that much security budget can end up in...

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Cybersecurity, Phishing, Tech Tips

How to Spot a Fake Apple Pay Scam Text Before You Call the Scammers

Stan Patey

Think that urgent Apple Pay security text is legitimate? Think again. Learn how scammers use fear and urgency to lure victims into calling fake support numbers—and why the text isn’t the scam. It’s the bait.

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Cybersecurity, Phishing

Why “I Know the Sender” Doesn’t Mean an Email Is Safe

Stan Patey

A bid invitation arrived from a real, trusted business contact—correct name, correct domain, no red flags. It was a phishing attack. Here’s why “I know the sender” is no longer proof an email is safe,...

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Cybersecurity, Professional Firms

5 Common Cybersecurity Gaps in Professional Services Firms

Stan Patey

Most professional services firms think the basics are covered, yet the same cybersecurity gaps keep surfacing in our reviews. Here are the five we find most often — and how to close each one before...

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Business Tips, Tech Tips

Disaster Recovery for Businesses: Your IT Time Machine

Stan Patey

Set the destination time to the moment before disaster struck. A real disaster recovery plan is the closest thing to a time machine your business will ever own—here’s how it gets your data back.

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Business Tips, Cybersecurity, Law Firms

Fake IT Support Scam Now Targeting Law Firms (Why the FBI Is Warning About It)

Stan Patey

A fake IT support scam is one of the fastest-growing cybersecurity threats facing law firms today. Criminals are posing as IT support professionals, convincing employees to grant access to computers and sensitive data, and then...

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Business Tips, Cybersecurity

AI Data Privacy for Business: The $10 Upgrade That Protects Client Data

Stan Patey

Short answer AI data privacy for business comes down to one overlooked decision: the license tier, not the AI vendor. On consumer plans like Claude Pro or ChatGPT Plus, your conversations can train the AI...

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Cybersecurity, Tech Tips

AI-Driven Patch Management: Why Microsoft’s Record Patch Surge Changes Everything for Your Business

Stan Patey

Microsoft’s record 2026 patch surge signals a new era of AI-driven patch management. Learn why update volumes have exploded, what it means for law firms, accountants, and financial advisories — and why manual patching no...

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Accounting, Business Tips, Law Firms, Professional Firms

Technology for Multi-Location Professional Services Agencies: How to Support Growth Without Growing Pains

Stan Patey

Growth is exciting. For many professional services firms, opening a second office is a sign that the business is moving in the right direction. Whether you’re an accounting firm, law practice, insurance agency, financial advisory...

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Business Tips, Cybersecurity

Your Employees Are Already Using AI. (Probably Right Now.)

Stan Patey

Let’s be honest. Most business leaders haven’t thought much about AI security risks for businesses—even though their employees are already using tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, and Gemini every day. Somewhere in your office today,...

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Law Firms, Tech Tips

Microsoft 365 Mailbox Full? Here’s the Fix

Stan Patey

Recently, we had this conversation with one of our law firm clients in the Cummings Center in Beverly. Their question was straightforward: “I’m getting alerts that my Microsoft 365 mailbox is running out of space...

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Phishing

Hang Up. Call Back.

Stan Patey

The Simple Cybersecurity Habit North Shore Businesses Can’t Afford to Ignore Cybersecurity threats are becoming more convincing every day. For businesses on the North Shore, one of the simplest cybersecurity habits is still one of...

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Business Tips, Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity Is Like Swiss Cheese: Why Security Culture Matters More Than Ever

Stan Patey

Cybersecurity is like Swiss cheese — every layer has weaknesses, but together they create stronger protection. Learn why building a strong cybersecurity culture is just as important as firewalls, MFA, and endpoint protection in defending...

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Cybersecurity, Phishing

How Proactive Cybersecurity Monitoring Stopped a Remote Access Scam

Stan Patey

Most cybersecurity incidents don’t begin with sophisticated hacking. They begin with ordinary moments. Someone checks their personal email on a work computer. A familiar-looking website appears legitimate. A file gets downloaded without much thought because...

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Accounting, Cybersecurity, Law Firms, Phishing

Business Email Compromise Attacks Target Professional Services Firms

Stan Patey

Cybercriminals are increasingly targeting law firms, accounting firms, and financial organizations using Business Email Compromise attacks that hijack trusted email conversations with spoofed lookalike domains. Learn how a single extra letter in a domain name...

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Cybersecurity, Phishing

How Ignoring Email Security Warnings Leads to Financial Fraud

Stan Patey

Why INKY “Banner Fatigue” Exposes Professional Services Firms to Phishing and Payment Fraud Cybersecurity professionals spend a lot of time talking about phishing attacks, spoofed domains, and business email compromise. But sometimes the most important...

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Accounting, Architecture & Design, Cybersecurity, Law Firms

How Will HIPAA Security Rule Changes Impact Non-Healthcare Companies?

Stan Patey

Do HIPAA Security Rule Changes Impact Non-Healthcare Companies? The HIPAA Security Rule changes expected in 2026–2027 will significantly impact small and mid-sized businesses, especially organizations with 10–50 employees. These updates will increase cybersecurity requirements by...

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Business Tips, Cybersecurity

HIPAA Security Rule Changes Are Coming (And Yes—They’re a Big Deal)

Stan Patey

HIPAA Security Rule changes are coming in 2026—and they’re a big deal. Learn what’s changing, why it matters, and what your business needs to fix now to stay compliant.

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Slingshot Information Systems

Based in Rockport, MA, we provide managed IT services for businesses across Northeastern Massachusetts — including the North Shore, Cape Ann, and Merrimack Valley. Our team delivers reliable support without the cost of full-time internal staff.

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51 Broadway, Rockport, MA 01966, USA

(978) 546-3571

[email protected]

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