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Internet Security: What Are They Surfing At Work?

Thomas Fox is president of Tech Experts, southeast Michigan’s leading small business computer support company.

A recent survey of business owners and IT managers found that employees are using company computers, Internet access, e-mail, and other resources to conduct hours of non-work related activities.  And the problem is on the rise.

Some of these activities simply waste time, like day trading and monitoring eBay bids. However, some of the activities are malicious and can cause serious issues with a company’s server and network.

Here are a few incidents that were reported by the IT managers that were surveyed:

• One employee was caught running a gambling website and acting as a bookie for his co-workers.

• To bypass the company’s web filter, one employee was caught using his desktop computer as an FTP server for the other employees. He had downloaded and saved over 300GB of material, all on his work computer, using his company’s Internet connection and undoubtedly slowing down their systems.

• One employee was caught giving away confidential information such as price lists, contracts, and software code for application development.

• Another employee had a pretty lucrative side business stealing and selling company inventory on eBay.

• One woman was caught running an online “outcall” service from her desk.

• One employee was caught renting the corporate IP address to hacker friends to attack other company’s computers and networks.

While these scenarios seem outrageous, they are not uncommon. Of the 300 companies surveyed, almost one-third have fired an employee in the last 12 months for violating e-mail policies, and 52 percent of companies said they have disciplined an employee for violating e-mail rules in the past year.

Educating your employees through an acceptable use policy is simply not enough. If the requirements are not enforced, employees will accidentally or intentionally violate your rules.

That’s why every company needs to invest in good e-mail and web filtering software. Just having it in place will act as a deterrent for such activities. If something really is going on – like an employee leaking confidential information to a competitor or sending racial or sexist jokes through your company’s e-mail – you’ll be able to catch it and resolve the issue proactively, instead of reacting to it after the fact.

Additionally, a good web filter will prevent employees from accessing inappropriate material online, wasting time on non-work activities, downloading viruses and spyware, and using up company bandwidth to download photos and music.

Networking Equipment: What’s It All Do?

There are many times when explaining to clients what piece of hardware needs rebooted or reset that they do not know what we are talking about when we reference the piece of networking equipment by name.

Even if you do know what is meant by router, modem, switch, hub, etc., you might not know what the equipment does, and why you need it.

Today is your lucky day! Below is a brief explanation of what the various types of networking equipment is, what it does, and why you need it.

Let’s start from your Internet service providers (ISP) main line into your house or business and work our way up to your computer. It all begins with your modem – this is how you initially connect to your ISP’s main line into your building.

The modem is what connects you to your Internet provider, and secures an IP address for your computer or network to connect to the Internet.

The next piece of hardware in line is normally your router.

Some network installations don’t have a router, usually because the modem supplied by the Internet provider has one built in, or the computer connects directly to  the modem.

A router allows you to have your own network IP scheme and communicate from your network to your ISP’s network.

Routers allow you to expand your network beyond the one device that most ISP’s modems allow by creating a larger subset of IP addresses for your computers to connect to which is then “routed” to your ISP’s IP address and out to the Internet.

This is why they are called routers, they route network traffic. Some routers also offer the ability to connect wirelessly to your network.

These connections act exactly the same way except for the fact that they do not have an Ethernet cable plugged into the computer you are using to connect with and there is increased security on the wireless connection to prevent unauthorized connections to your network. Some routers also offer a high grade built in firewall.

So as you can see routers can come in many different flavors and configurations.

The final piece of hardware in the chain of networking hardware is your switch.

In general switches are designed to be connected to your router and offer more Ethernet ports for you to connect devices to your network.

Most routers offer on average five Ethernet ports – a switch gives you the ability to expand on the number of available Ethernet ports that can connect to your router.

If you want to have multiple devices connected to your Internet connection while keeping your network secure give us a call and we can guide you on selecting the proper equipment as well as getting it setup properly for you.

If this kind of equipment is not configured properly you may not be able to connect to the Internet at all.

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Tech Experts

An Uncluttered Hard Drive Equals A Happy PC!

Everyone knows you need free hard drive space to save files. But the need for free disk space goes far beyond saving a Word document or an MP3 file.

The hard drive is utilized by the computer for many things, most of which go on behind the scenes.

System Restore
If you have Windows Me or a newer version of Windows, your computer comes equipped with a function called “system restore.” System restore is a great tool.

If you install a program or a new device that causes your computer to go haywire, as long as you have a restore point from before that screwy device or application was installed, you can restore your computer to its earlier state.

Windows periodically sets restore points, and you can manually set them too, but these restore points take up lots of disk space – sometimes up to 5 or 10 percent of the hard drive.

If you have no free space, you can’t use system restore.

Page file
Your computer uses RAM (random access memory) to store programs that it is currently running, such as web browsers, games, and virus scanners.

Programs that are open, but are not currently in use are stored in what Windows calls the “page file” or “swap file.”

The page file is an area on the hard drive set aside to be used as “extra RAM,” so that the actual RAM is not overly taxed and your computer can run as efficiently as possible.

Windows initially sets aside a chunk of the hard drive to use as the page file, so unless you manually limit the size or disable the page file, any files you save on the hard drive will not impact the page file.

However, if you run a lot of programs simultaneously, it is advisable to increase your page file size, and without free hard drive space that won’t be possible.

Running the disk defragmenter

Windows comes with another useful tool, the Disk Defragmenter.

The defragmenter joins fragmented files and reorganizes the hard drive to make the best use of all available space (which helps your PC run faster).

You should run the defragmenter at least once a month, but you need free disk space in order to run it. (Ideally, at least 10 or 15 percent of your hard drive should be empty before running the defragmenter.)

Quarantine
Most anti-virus programs have an option to quarantine infected files.

The suspect files are set aside in a designated area of the hard drive so they won’t be able to further infect your computer, but if you need to get to the file, it’s still around.

Without free hard drive space, there is no room for quarantine. Therefore your anti-virus program may delete an important file it suspects as a virus and there will be no way of retrieving the file, or the anti-virus may not be able to do its job correctly and not do anything for that file because there is not enough space on your hard drive for it to move the file somewhere else.

Temp files
Your computer can pick up and store temporary files when you’re browsing webpages online and even when you’re working on files in programs, such as Microsoft Word.

Over time, these files will slow your computer’s performance down by decreasing disk space. You can use the Windows Disk Cleanup tool to rid your computer of these unneeded files and to help your PC run faster.

There are many more behind the scene activities that go on with your computer, having low hard drive space would limit its functionality and could cause serious system damages if not addressed properly.

It is best to have your computer optimized at least once every three months to get the best performance, and having it last longer.

Alert: Top Four Threats Attacking Your Network

There are many threats that could be attacking your network. Here are just a few that most clients have happen to them.

Overconfidence
User overconfidence in security products is the top threat to your network.

Failure to “practice safe software” results in nuisance attacks like porn storms (unstoppable rapid fire pornographic pop-ups) and more subtle key loggers that steal passwords.

Surveys promising free stuff result in theft of information like your mother’s maiden name, high school, etc. which can be used to answer common security questions.

To avoid theft of otherwise secure data, think before you click.

Social Networking Sites
Social networking sites like Facebook are exploding in popularity. Threats range from malware (eg. viruses, worms, spyware) to scammers trying to steal your identity, information and money. Many businesses and government agencies are using these sites to communicate with clients and constituents, so simply blocking access is no longer reasonable; defending your company while allowing employee access requires social network education for your employees and the enforcement of strong acceptable use policies.

We can help you develop a policy, then monitor compliance using a Unified Threat Management device that controls and reports on network access.

Attacks On Mobile Devices
Everyone is going mobile these days, not just the “road warriors.”

Once limited to laptop computers, mobile network devices now include PDAs, handheld computers and smart phones, with new appliances appearing in the stores every month. Mobile devices often contain sensitive data yet they are easily lost or stolen.

Be sure to password protect and encrypt data on all mobile devices whenever possible. Include mobile devices in your acceptable use policy.

Cloud Computing
“The Cloud,” in its simplest form, involves using the Internet to access and store your data.

It’s actually thousands of servers all working together to provide computing power. When you access e-mail using a web browser, you are working in “the cloud.” Using the cloud for automated off-site backup is rapidly gaining popularity, but that’s just the beginning.

Companies like Microsoft, IBM, and Google envision the day when we will use inexpensive terminals instead of computers to run programs and access data located somewhere on the Internet.

You need to be sure that any data you store and access across the Internet is secure not just where it is stored, but during the trip to and from the Internet.

Pay close attention to this top threats and it will help with network security.

Professional Email Addresses: How “Free” Email Could Cost You

Thomas Fox is president of Tech Experts, southeast Michigan’s leading small business computer support company.

There are lots of ways you’ve worked to build positive brand and inspire trust with your clients.

Pleasant phone greetings when client calls in, a professional sign over the office entrance, even stationary on a nice paper stock are important to let your clients know that you’re serious about your business.

But what about having your own domain name for email?

How does it look after a great conversation with a potential customer when you hand them your card and your email address you expect to have important business conversations with belongs to one of the big email providers offering free service?

Put another way, imagine a lawyer with an email address of consultantpat@hotmail.com. Do you think Pat’s clients would be comfortable knowing that private correspondence with their consultant was being transmitted through a free email service?

How would their perception change if Pat’s email were pat@robinson¬consulting.com?

Professional branding aside, there are some great reasons to have your email at your own domain name for business email:

Who’s going to help? Delete an important email? Can’t log in to your account? Have a question about the number of emails you can send from your account?

The free email service providers have self-service tools to help you figure out your problem, but what can you do if you still have a problem? Who will you talk to and how long will you have to wait for help?

Will your emails be delivered? “I didn’t receive your email.” Does this sound familiar? Free email accounts are very popular with spammers. Did you know that some mail services started blocking mass mail delivery from free email accounts with these domain names?

The switching cost to a domain-based email address later is higher. There’s a strong benefit to having people know where to find you. Changing your email address can be a lot like a retailer relocating. All the business built over the years could disappear, as customers can no longer find you at the address.

Unintended communication could be embarrassing, even damaging. Jon Smith is our hypothetical accountant with a free GMail account at jon.smith@gmail.com. Can you guess the number of times his clients have emailed their sensitive documents (even tax returns) to john.smith@gmail.com?

Sure, it’s the client’s fault for the mistake, but could this have been prevented if he were Jon@ReliableAccountants.com?

Free email accounts are very popular these days. But if you’re serious about your business and your brand, it might be time to consider how current and potential clients are judging you by a simple email address.

How Can Google Plus Benefit Your Business?

Since the recession businesses are looking for more economical ways of advertisement that will generate revenue.

Google Plus will be the perfect business hub for advertisement and customer interactions.

Google Plus is a brand new social networking website that allows you to interact with your friends and followers.

It also supports mobile devices so you can keep your clients up to date on the go. Google Plus is made up of five key features:

Stream
The stream is an essential feature to Google Plus; this is where you can share what’s new.

For example, for a retail store this is where you could post the latest sale or upcoming products that your store will be offering soon.

Circles
Circles are used to categorize all of your Google Plus friends and followers.

With this you can post updates in your stream and choose which circles can view the update.

So if you have customers that have a membership with you that allow them to receive special offers this would be perfect for that purpose.

You could create different circles and update your stream with coupon codes and only share that update with the circles of your choice.

Huddle
Huddle is a new way for you to easily stay in touch with your custom¬ers in real time.

With Huddle, you can chat with groups of people or individual users.

For example, if you wanted to provide customer support online you could create huddles for your customers that are in need and as¬sist them in a chat window.

Hangouts
Hangouts are for video chatting with your circles. This can be used to introduce a product.

For example, you can update your stream telling your users to be online at a certain time and you can broadcast video using the Hangout feature.

Or, it can be used for group meet¬ings. For a lot of small businesses it can be hard trying to find space to host a meeting if your building does not have the allotted space available.

With Hangouts everyone will be able to be seen on screen in a video chat session with the main focus on the person who is speaking at the time.

Using +1
If you are familiar with Facebook, this is the same basic feature as the Facebook “like” button. But, there are some added features.

Basically if you like what you see while browsing the web, you can give it a +1.

This also can be a very good marketing tool if you simply tell your customers that if you +1 this update you can give them discounts which will draw more attention to your company’s profile.

Also you will be able to see what others have +1’d which is basically another way of telling someone “Hey check this out.”

If you use all of the features that Google Plus offers you should see an increase in clients and followers in your business.

The more online exposure that your business has, it is more likely you will come up first in web searches.

Google Plus is still in its beta stage which unfortunately is invite only.

There has not been a date set for its release but when it arrives I encourage you to sign up as soon as it launches.

Top 5 Ways to “Break” Your Computer

Here are the top five most common ways to “break” your computer. The reason break is in quotations is because no matter what happens to your computer we can almost always fix it…it just doesn’t make sense sometimes from a financial stand point to do so.

My computer won’t turn on
This very common situation and can be caused by many different things.

One common cause, however, that IS preventable is the computer overheating.

The first step to preventing this issue is to put the computer on an elevated surface instead of the floor if you have the space to do so.

The reason you want to do this is normal everyday foot traffic around or near the computer kicks up a lot of dust and debris that can coat the insides of a computer and cause the processor to not be cooled properly.

The other step you want to take to prevent this issue is to take a can of air and blow out the computer on occasion.

We do NOT recommend open­ing the case and doing the interior yourself as it is possible to cause damage to components.

My computer is running really slow
Yet again another common scenario we hear almost every day.

Unfortunately, there is no way to completely avoid this, but there are some ways to slow it down.

As your operating system instal­lation ages, and depending on how much it is used, the operating system, and software files in it can become damaged or corrupt, which slows your computer down.

The best way to combat this issue is to make sure that your uninstall­ing unused programs through the control panel, and simply keeping unused junk files clean off of your com­puter.

The more you keep your computer and OS the way it was when you pur­chased it the better it will run.

This can also happen if you shut your computer down improperly. Always go through the Start Menu/ Shutdown process when powering off your computer.

Constant popups are interrupting me and making my PC slow
Almost always, this very com­mon issue is caused by a virus or spyware on your computer.

Unfortunately, there aren’t any fool-proof methods of preventing a virus or malware attack.

The best thing you can do to help prevent an infection is to have anti­virus software installed on your PC, but keep in mind, even this does not guarantee you will not get a virus/ malware infection.

The other step to help prevent this is to only go to websites that are considered to be “safe,” meaning they are legitimate websites that its owners would not be trying to gain access to your PC or have any reason to infect your computer.

The most common place for users to get viruses and malware is from browsing the web for free items such as software, movies, music, etc. or even from emails.

Unfortunately, if you do end up be­ing infected by a virus, they’re very difficult to completely remove.

The process used to properly remove a virus is complex and if not done properly can damage your computers operating system and/or cause data loss.

That being said even if you bring the computer in it is possible for a virus to attach itself to a file and damage it permanently so even we may not be able to recover all of your files in the event of a very bad infection.

In most cases we are able to remove all viruses/malware from a system and the user not even notice that they ever had one. There are times, though, where the virus does irreversible damage.

My computer can’t get online
This is another common issue, and is most often caused by the above issue – viruses or spyware on the computer.

Viruses, spyware and malware have all kinds of different effects on the computer. When that is not the cause there are several other issues that may come into play.

As long as other computers at your home/business are able to get online the issue is more than likely due to a setting on your computer itself.

The most common instance I can think of with laptops is the user ac­cidentally switches the WiFi switch to the off position (and doesn’t realize the laptop even had a WiFi switch).

In a desktop, however, as long as the connection issue has not been caused by failing hardware, it is usually caused by a setting changed within the computer.

Connection issues encompass a number of possible settings on the computer, so it’s hard to give you all the information to properly troubleshoot this issue in a small newsletter article.

When it comes to connection issues your best bet is to give us a call and let us diagnose the issue for you.

We troubleshoot many connectivity issues here in the shop as well as onsite. So, no matter where your problem lies, we can get you back online.

Windows told me I had some updates so I installed them. Now my computer won’t boot
Windows updates are almost always important, but they can also be complex in how they interact with your operating system and installed software.

Unfortunately, since most of the updates address serious security risks they must be installed.

The best practice regarding updates is to review them immediately, and perhaps even download them to the machine, but wait a few days in case there are issues with the updates.

If Microsoft finds that there are is­sues with a patch, even though they do test them to begin with, they will pull the update off of Windows updates until the issue is resolved.

This will help prevent you from getting an update that can cause a problem.

Hardware driver updates are by far the most common type of update that “breaks” the computer.

We generally don’t recommend downloading them unless you are having a problem with your current driver, or there’s a serious security issue with the current driver.

With hardware sometimes it’s better to go with the “Don’t fix it if it isn’t broke” sentiment. If you do mistakenly update and then are unable to get into Windows, bring your computer in and we can get the issue corrected!

These are a few of the common is­sues that we see every week. Hope­fully this short list can help keep your system running smoothly, and help you solve basic issues.

Featured Article Written By: Tech Experts

Phishing Schemes Are On The Rise

A phishing e-mail is an e-mail sent by a hacker designed to fool the recipient into downloading a virus, giving up their credit card number, personal information (like a social security number), or account or login information to a particular website.

Often these e-mails are well designed to look exactly like an official notification from the site they are trying to emulate.

For example, a recent phishing e-mail was circulated that appeared to come from Facebook stating that videos or photos of Osama Bin Laden’s death were posted online. These e-mails looked exactly like a legitimate Facebook e-mail and even appeared to come from “Facebookmail.com.”

Once you clicked on the e-mail the phishing site would attempt to install a virus on your machine.

And now due to recent security breaches with Sony and e-mail marketer Epsilion, phishing attacks are going to increase – and they are going to get more sophisticated and harder to distinguish from legitimate e-mails.

That’s because the hackers that were able to access the private databases of the above mentioned companies now have the name, e-mail and interests of the subscribers, and in some cases birthdays, addresses and more. That means a phishing e-mail can be personalized with relevant information that the user provided to Sony, making the e-mail appear to be more legitimate and the user more likely to click on the links provided and take the actions requested. Now more than ever it’s critical that you are wary of e-mail notifications and the actions they request you take. Even having good anti-virus software installed won’t protect you if you give your account information away freely.

 

 

Almost Every Small Business Can Expect To Get Hacked

Thomas Fox is president of Tech Experts, southeast Michigan’s leading small business computer support company.

Juniper Networks recently commissioned a study on small and medium company network security.

The startling result: Over 90% of US companies reported at least one security breach in the last year, with more than half indicating they experienced two or more significant security problems with their networks.

There’s a misconception among a lot of small business owners that they’re safe from cyber attacks, because small companies offer a smaller payback for hacking efforts.

Small business network security is usually lax

The reality is, security policies and procedures at small companies usually make them an easy and simple target for hackers.

While the payout isn’t as large as hacking TJ Maxx, invading a small business’ network usually takes a lot less effort, and the business lacks a sophisticated response system.

Why is hacking so easy?

A new technique, called spear phishing, let’s hackers target a small group of previously identified people. Sometimes, the attack goes after just a handful of people who work at the same company.

Spear phishing does away with the need for hackers to gain access to your passwords. As more companies start to use social media sites such as FaceBook and Twitter, hackers using spear phishing are finding it easier to “trick” unsuspecting employees into installing crimeware on their company computers. This crimeware let’s the criminals access the computer system directly. Once they have access to one machine on your network, it’s easy to connect to the others.

Recent attacks have highlighted the growing need for companies to implement network security controls to catch the bulk of socially engineered spear phishing attacks.

They also need to take measures to quickly detect and contain security breaches.

The first thing you’ll want to do to protect your business is implement a strong firewall (see Frank’s article on page two) that lets you assign security restrictions for users based on the content of websites, and even keywords that might be potentially dangerous.

The next thing to look at is your company’s acceptable use policy. This can be as simple as a few pages added to your employee handbook that outlines what is and isn’t acceptable behavior on your network.

The final thing to examine is your backup and disaster recovery plan. The hacker’s aren’t giving up, which means it’s time to plan for what comes after a security breach.

Firewalls: What Do They Do And Why Should You Have One?

Firewalls are network security devices that protect your internal network (your servers and PCs) from your external network (the Internet).

We’ve put together a basic guide to firewalls – what they are, when you should have one, and why.

What is a firewall?
A firewall is simply a border between the device and the firewall software is installed and running on (and devices on the LAN side of the firewall) and any other devices on the outside of it.

For example, there are many different kinds of firewalls. Windows firewall gives you very basic features, and is built into Windows.

This firewall is designed to block unwanted access to the computer itself and is not designed to protect the rest of the devices on a network.

Another form a firewall can take is a separate device all together.

Having a device that specifically functions as a firewall gives more control over what the firewall can be used to protect.

For example it is possible to buy a firewall appliance that can be attached to the perimeter of your network and block specific connections to your LAN.

When is it a good time to look into using a firewall?
On most Windows based computers Windows firewall is generally on by default so most people already run a firewall on their computers without even knowing it.

That being said, Windows firewall does not give you anywhere near the control or protection of a dedicated firewall product.

If your business requires very strict security and data compliance, or you intend to store highly confidential information (an example would be client credit card numbers), it may be in your best interest to have a third party firewall.

Third party firewalls offer much greater protection and allow the ability to configure specific rules in much greater detail than Windows firewall.

Having the ability to configure rules with more detail makes it possible for you to lock down your network and its possible security holes more tightly.

The reason this is a good idea if you are storing confidential information on a network is that having a firewall gives you control over exactly what comes in and out of your network.

Without this added security it may be possible for your valuable information to be compromised or copied to a remote location without you even knowing it is happening.

Why have a firewall or invest in a better one?
Three words: Vastly improved security. A third party firewall solutions affords you the best protection for your data and network.

If you have important data to secure, a firewall is an excellent step in protecting your network from unwanted access to your network.

If you have questions about your firewall (or lack of firewall) and would like us to evaluate your network security, please give us a call.

Whether it is security holes left open due to a weak firewall or other possible security issues we can help you secure your data!

Feature article by Tech Experts,
Service Manager for Tech Experts