The Tekblog

With the current projections putting Hurricane Earl squarely at Hampton Roads’ doorstep  by Thursday early-afternoon, its a good time to go over what you want to be concerned with regarding your computer networks in lieu of the upcoming storms.

When in a low-lying, coastal area like most of Hampton Roads, our biggest concern comes from flooding. Be sure that if you are in an even remotely vulnerable flooding area, that your servers and computers are off the ground.

Some other questions we think are prudent-

Q: Should we unplug our computers?
A: Yes, we think this is a good idea, especially for critical systems. PCs will be virtually immune to power-related issues if they are not plugged in. If the computer is plugged into a line-conditioning battery backup, this is not as much of an issue.

Q: Should we turn off our computer?
A: Turning the system off does not technically protect it from a lightning surge; unplug it for the best protection.

Q: Should we turn off / unplug our servers?
A: If your server is protected by a properly configured, line-conditioning battery backup, this is not necessary or desirable in most cases.

You also want to be sure you have a fully verified and restorable backup stored offsite in case something happens to your on site backup.

For those clients who have a Netcare plan in place with Teklogic, we will be getting in touch with you over the course of today and tomorrow to go over last minute preparations specific to your environment. We will be proactively logging into servers and checking backups, power conditioning devices and server configurations.  If anyone has additional concerns please do not hesitate to get in touch with our office @ 757-644-4402.

Did you know that the peak of “Hurricane season” is considered from the beginning of August to the end of October?

If you are a business that is not on a technology management plan with Teklogic and you are interested in having us proactively maintain things for you, let us know! Teklogic specializes in offsite backups and disaster recovery planning for your business – give us a call today!

Have you ever worried about what information may be saved to your computer? Maybe you recorded a credit card number or a Social Security number and saved it somewhere, unprotected?

Free Windows utility, Identity Finder scans your hard drive looking for sensitive information, like credit card numbers and passwords. The utility will bring the information to your attention so that you can do something about it – perhaps moving it to a more appropriate location.  The “Pro” version of the application will allow you to encrypt and store this information safely. 

Knowing what information you have stored out there is the first step to securing it. Securing the information is especially important for laptop users who could be susceptible to loss or theft.

Hope this helps.

-Justin

Microsoft has a free document template repository that contains everything from fax cover sheets to brochures. This is a great tool for any business to leverage that will save time and make your life easier.

Accessing this repository is easy and can be done from right within the Microsoft Office software suite. They have even produced a short series of videos to get you started – RIGHT HERE.

This is a great time saver – I know I’ve used this more than once when the need arose to draft a new type of document. You can browse all of the available templates right within Office or you can visit the Microsoft Office Templates Site.

I was contacted by a 13 News reporter recently and asked if he could interview me for a news story they were doing. This story was in light of Google’s recent admission that they collected data about unsecured wireless access points while taking pictures around Hampton Roads for Google’s “Street View” service. Long story short, the interview never happened, but I wrote this brief article to go along with the story:

Many wireless routers available at local big-box stores are unsecured right out of the box. The reasoning for this is that the less complicated the manufacturer can make the configuration of their product, the less potential frustration for the end user – but this is a double edged sword as ease of use and security tend to be mutually exclusive.

Some simple things you can do to secure a wireless router are as follows:

1.) Change the default configuration.

This should be the first thing you do with a new router. Every manufacturer ships their devices with a default username and password as well as a default SSID (which is the "name" of your wireless network). Change the password and wireless SSID (or name) in the router’s configuration. Many routers will include a CD that will help you to configure these parameters. If you have questions, consult the manufacturer for specific instructions.

Also, its never a good idea to name your wireless network based on your address, business name or last name. This just gives any potential attacker even more information. Its always best to use a non-identifiable name.

2.) Enable encryption -

All wireless routers will support some kind of encryption. The three most popular are WEP, WPA and WPA2. Of these three, WPA2 is the most secure. WEP and WPA have some inherent technical weaknesses that can allow, even a novice hacker to circumvent relatively easily (which, in this case is very relative). Encryption can be enabled either by accessing your router’s configuration interface via a Web Browser from your computer or by using the manufacturer’s supplied CDs. Enabling encryption will prevent the casual would-be thief from accessing your wireless network but as the old adage goes, where there is a will, there’s a way – which is a resonating undertone to all things computer security related. For businesses or individuals dealing in highly-sensitive information, basic encryption is not enough. Businesses should always consult an IT professional before setting up wireless access to their computer networks and/or information systems.

Doing these two things will go a long way to secure a person’s home network.

One of the most common ways your computer can become infected with Malware, Spyware or Viruses is through a security vulnerability. What happens is that an unsuspecting user clicks on a malicious link. This malicious code is specially crafted to exploit a known security vulnerability in a commonly used component or application – in this case, Adobe Flash Player and Adobe Acrobat PDF software.

With all of the Advertisement Sharing Services that websites are using nowadays, it makes it harder for major websites to control content being displayed on their sites. What I’m getting at is that these exploits can sometimes come from big name, legitimate sites and not some shady back-alley website as you might expect – this is affectionately referred to as malvertizing. See: MSN Norway serving Flash exploits through malvertising and MySpace, Excite, and Blick Serve Up Malicious Banner Ads and Rogue ads pushing malware — how it works.

This specific vulnerability affects Mac, PC, Unix and Solaris Operating Systems. There is no known software patch for this issue – Adobe has announced that they are working on it. However, there is a workaround.

Mitigation techniques are discussed here on Adobe’s official Security Bulletin: http://www.adobe.com/support/security/advisories/apsa10-01.html

Clients of Teklogic that are on a Netcare plan have this workaround in place and are already protected. If you do not have a Netcare plan or are not a client of Teklogic’s please Contact Us and we will get you fixed up.

Thanks!

: — Justin Carter
: — Teklogic, Inc.
: www.Teklogic.net

Have you ever needed to send a file to someone through e-mail but found it was too large to be attached? Perhaps this is a collection of pictures, a CAD drawing or the contents of a CD. The free service “WeTransfer” will allow you to upload your files to their servers and then distribute a link to your recipients for download. There are many such services out there but most are not user friendly. I found this service to be very easy to use as well as very artistically designed.

This service does limit you to 2GB of attached data – but I suspect this will suffice for most people.

Next time you find yourself needing to send large files to someone, give this service a shot.

https://www.wetransfer.com/ 

Thanks,

-Justin

Microsoft has a free add-in for the Office 2007 suite that allows you to export any office document to PDF. You just need to download the add-in from here and install it. You will then see an option to “Save As” PDF from the "Save As” menu.

This is a great way to get any Office document into PDF format, and best of all, its free!

Unfortunately this add-in will not work in previous versions of Office (2003, XP or 2000).

With Outlook and Microsoft Exchange server it is possible to share your calendar and view others’ shared calendars in your organization. Here is a video demonstration on how exactly to do this.

If you have a Smartphone running Windows Mobile software, backing up your phone’s Call History, Text History, Pictures and Videos is simple… Microsoft has a free program called My Phone that you can install and it will make an online backup of everything on your phone. This way, in case you lose your phone or simply get a new phone, restoring all of your information is simple.

The My Phone software can also help you locate your phone if its lost.The My Phone software uses your phones built-in GPS to send you its coordinates. If you are the paranoid type you can also disable this “feature” of the software.

There are also “premium” (paid) features that include the ability to make your phone ring loudly if its lost, lock your phone or even erase it if its been stolen.

This is simply must-have software for any person using a Windows Mobile phone. For a full-feature list see this link.

Get Started with Microsoft My Phone here.

Wow – the last 3 months have been a real blur for us. We are finally getting settled into our new space in the Greenbrier section of Chesapeake (Virginia). We aren’t quite 100% done with everything – but its a work in progress. My vision for this space is a creative technical environment. Like I said – we’re getting there…

If you would like to check it out I have set up a Flickr Photostream of the office. Click Here

You can bet Teklogic will be ready with future-proof solutions for businesses of all sizes – we look forward to showing you what we can do in 2010 and beyond!

Yours Technically,

-Justin Carter