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Yes, I said, how’s your insurance?

February 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment

It’s been twelve years since I’ve been a property and casualty insurance agent but when a client contacted me about replacing or repairing a damaged newly purchased laptop I found that my insurance cap still fit. In short, off site a staff person had somehow damaged the screen on a three week old laptop and my initial response was to contact the manufacturer and see if they would assess the damage and repair or replace the machine. Second, I suggested that she should see what her insurance company would cover for the damage.

I have no intention of going back into the insurance business but this incident got me thinking, my client with this latest purchase now has approximately 20 laptops assigned to various staff persons who work not only from home but also numerous other official and unofficial locations and the fact the only two machines have been damaged in the last 4 years is a miracle. Whether your company has 50 staff members or one, with the large number of laptops and mobile phones in circulation the possibility of damage, loss, or theft is inevitable. Beyond the loss of data and security risks from missing devises is the cost of replacing which is always a financial hit. For large companies this is the cost of doing business but for small companies the replacement of computers, time lost while recovering data and the loss of critical information can be devastating. An insurance policy that replaces the laptop or telephone can help easy that blow.

Not only for laptops, but as a business person when was the last time you reviewed your insurance policies, I’ve made a list of several areas that you should review for the New Year:

  • Warranties: I always purchase at least 3 year warranties and support packages on all servers I install; the primary issue for me is down time. I may be able to fix a certain computer issue but if I can save time then I’m also saving my client money with less aggravation. Personally, since my laptops are my business I initially purchase 3 year warranties as I buy new equipment it reduces the headaches.
  • Business Personal Property: Many of us now work from home either as consultants, Solopreneur, or just telecommuters. What’s covered by your home owners’ policy? Do you need a separate business policy? Not just your laptop but what about printers, furniture, etc. Although some things will be covered by your home owners’ policy, I suggest that you make a list of your business assets and talk with your homeowners/renter policy Insurance agent.
  • Business Liability: Are potential clients coming to your home or office (I’ve deliberately excluded coffee shops!). If they slip and fall are you liable? Is your homeowners/renters’ policy going cover a liability issue for a business meeting? Also, if you work on client property in your home or office, “care, custody, and control”, what is the extent of your responsibility and how you are covered?
  • Errors and Omissions: Whether you are installing networks, creating and maintaining web sites, organizing someone’s office or giving financial advice please check regarding you vulnerability when working with clients whose expectation about the completed project may differ from yours.
  • Loss of Use/loss of wages: This could be a big issue in the event of a major natural disaster or local catastrophe, if you have expectations for FEMA or some governmental agency rescuing you in this scenario, I think this is another item to discuss with your insurance broker. If you are truly doing disaster planning this should be incorporated in how fast you can recover and return to business.

As I said from the beginning, the New Year is a good time to look at how you will do business for the future and disaster planning is more than is your data backed up. Here’s wishing you a happy and prosperous New Year!

Filed Under: Blog, Maintenance Plans, Network Maintenance Tagged With: , , ,

Is your wireless naked? Last Post.

March 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment

You can never be too serious about network security whether it is a wired or wireless network. Brian Posey makes a case in his last wireless security article that wired networks can be more vulnerable than secured wireless networks unless some form of network access control is employed.

On a wired network anyone who plugs into a network jack can have access not only to the internet but also open access to your network. With the ready availability of mobile storage devices (flash drives and pocket hard drives) not only is the copying of sensitive data easy but malware can also be introduced into your system. Initially, this seems like a digression regarding our discussion about wireless security but this is really only a different side of the same coin.

The question is what are you doing to secure your wireless networks? I generally discourage businesses that have high visitor traffic from setting up wireless network or, if visitors need to have wireless access, I set up a separate non-domain (separate addressing scheme and DHCP server) router/access point. On the other hand the accountant or compliance auditor expects to plug into your network as a mere sign of courtesy.

In his final post regarding general wireless network security, Brian Posey outlines some basic concerns regarding wired versus wireless security: http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/Securing-Wireless-Network-Traffic-Part5.html?printversion.

Filed Under: Maintenance, Network Maintenance, Network Security Tagged With: ,

Is Your Wireless Naked? – Continued

January 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Pardon me if I lost momentum during the holiday blitz but I hadn’t forgotten that we are following Brian Posey’s articles on wireless security.

I’ve chosen to follow Brian because he’s a known expert and I want my readers to become familiar with security issues and good technology support sites, but I feel no inclination to repeat Brian’s work and somehow “tweeting” just doesn’t do it. In his December article, Brian focus is on the visibility of your wireless access point, SSID broadcasting and MAC address filtering.

I’ve always thought that MAC address filtering was cool but as Brian points out it isn’t always practical. To the point, many SOHO wireless devices will automatically populate attached network adapter device addresses (MAC address) and give you, the user, the opportunity to “lock in” only those addresses. This is a simple process until Cousin Max or your attorney visits and wants to connect his laptop to your network. My suggestion for businesses concerned about security is: set up a second wireless device which distributes a different range of addresses for non-office computers. If this sounds complicated, call me.

Filed Under: Blog, Business Tools, Network Security Tagged With: ,

Are you ready for the cloud? Part 2

November 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Much of the hype about browser computing is as if it were a great mystery or new slice of bread but most of us are already involved with various forms of “cloud” computing as we check our bank balance; send email using our Gmail, Yahoo, MSN accounts;  pay our telephone bill online; review our stock selections;  create online photo albums and order books or movies. So the concept of Cloud (browser) computing is not new but rather a different way to leverage the flexibility of internet-based applications. The questions is: will components of cloud computing replace your current hardware/software infrastructure?

One of the innovators in cloud computing that I respect is Scott Barlow, of Reflexion Networks. Scott noted the following in an article in ChannelPro Magazine:

“Technology practitioners increasingly recognize that we are moving toward a purchase/delivery model in which, as former Gartner Group VP Craig Baty observed, customers are shifting from the “acquisition of assets to the acquisition of access.” Of course, what’s driving this shift are the compelling advantages of the model, such as avoiding the time and expense of deploying and maintaining on-premises software and hardware, swapping capital budget dollars for operating budget dollars, and potentially freeing up internal resources for other priorities, even “going green.’“

The assumption is that the hardware and software costs of computer/server, operating systems, and business productivity software can be supplanted by ongoing less expensive monthly subscription web based services. Although we believe this to be basically true it is not all inclusive. Realistically, as a business owner you are looking at two aspects of the situation:

  • Are there online applications you will integrate into your network to leverage online computing power for a more reasonable cost without the hassles of on-site network hardware or software management?
  • Can you move all of your network computer functions to the cloud?

The first example is most easily demonstrated by Google Apps with a branded (xxx@yourdomainname.com) email, shared calendars and documents. At $50 per year per user this becomes an inexpensive option for a small company that doesn’t have specialty line of business software. Most significant, users no longer need to be in the same physical location to access work tools. Google Apps and Microsoft BPOS (soon to be Office 365) try to fill that all in one niche and although I think they are quite functional, they aren’t as helpful when specialty applications are needed, sensitive documents need to be stored or there are large capacity needs.

There are a number of specialty apps which can complement both a cloud and/or hardware infrastructure, such as customer relationship management tools such as Salesforce, Sugar CRM and Microsoft Dynamics CRM; accounting tools such as QuickBooks Online; secure professional document exchange such as Acct1st.com and Experience Denistry; or collaboration tools from 37 Signals. These niche online tools may serve your needs by not requiring additional hardware or software expenses for your network infrastructure; recognizing that the process of “going to the cloud”, doesn’t have to be an all in one solution.

More specifically, my first question is what is your motivation? In tech parlance we often talk about what is your pain, i.e., what is the problem you are trying to solve? It becomes imperative that you become specific about what’s your motivation is and what problem you want to solve. From my point of view this can be two questions.

For example, it’s time to replace your server or upgrade your workstations or even purchase your first server. Traditional thinking would involve the cost of a new server, the cost of migrating data and services from the old to the new, the time commitment for this change and does it involve any down time effecting staff and clients. A more prudent way of looking at the situation would to consider what functions does the server perform?

  • Is or will you be hosting your email on the server? If so, will this include calendar sharing? Can this function be better served with hosted Exchange or another form of hosted email? Will the online solution integrate with your on-site server? Do you need it to? What is the monthly subscription cost?
  • Does/will your server host any direct business applications? Are there online offerings from your specialty vendor? Does the online version have the same functionality as the on-site version? Does the online version need to integrate into your on-site software or online email client? Client database? Inventory and price listing? What is the monthly subscription cost?
  • Many specialty solutions may not work for your business “out of the box” and may need to be customized; can you do the customizations? What are the costs associated with customizing the user interface or database?
  • Is your server used for document storage and collaboration? How sensitive is the information? Do you need to manage various versions of documents? If so, is there an adequate online solution for this? How much data do you need to store online? What is the security level of the stored online data? Where is it the online data stored?
  • Does the server manage data backup? Is there a cost effective online backup option? My bias here is that there should always be on site backup for rapid operational recovery and minimum business down time.

You and your technology support person should ask these questions to vendor tech support persons when considering online solutions. Note, I said vendor technology support persons, not the sales person. The motivation for the sales person is often too self-evident but a tech person should know how his/her solution will work with work with your needs and thus minimize the support calls you will have to make to them. We’ve all had some “sales” person offer a product just for pennies a day and that is one of the prime allures for online services, i.e., a subscription based approach is a most cost effective way to handle technology infrastructure. I suggest that you take a long look at the time cost of money. If your server costs you $2500 plus $2500 installation, that is $5000 plus normal maintenance over an expected life time of the server of 3-5 years. On the other hand, an hosted exchange option with SharePoint which costs $14/mailbox, the cost for a 10 user office over 5 years is $8400 plus setup and maintains; whereas, a 25 user office would cost $21000.

In conclusion, we aren’t trying to come up with an outline of specific rules for whether you should “go to the cloud”; because we realize that you are already using various browser solutions in your everyday life. More importantly, we have suggested that you begin taking a serious look at how you use technology in your business. Briscoe Network Solutions runs well with Google premier apps for email for two people ($50/year/person); Constant Contact ($135/year); and Word Press blogging site ($250 setup including hosting). On the other hand, Ebony Knight, Inc. our parent company is server based as we backup documents from workstations, host QuickBooks database, Exchange database, SharePoint, integrated antivirus for the network, and we use a smart host to filter our incoming email. What works for us may not work for you, but asking yourself some key questions can help you find the solution that is both cost effective and compatible with your business needs.

Filed Under: Blog, Online Tools, Resource Center Tagged With: , , ,

Is your wireless still naked? #2

October 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

In my last wireless post I mentioned that Brian Posey was writing a series on wireless security and rather than duplicate effort I direct you to his latest blog postings on wireless security. Brian reiterates what we discussed in our article about simple security, i.e., most wireless appliances are configured through your web browser and the default user name and passwords are well known and used by everyone. Changing the default password is a simple security step which many techs either don’t configure or forget to configure. The excuses that access to the access point is infrequent and over time passwords may be forgotten only means that the network hasn’t been documented. As to default passwords, as Brian covers in his article,  the following chart is a case in point.

Common Wireless Device Browser Access Defaults
Device

Access Address

User-name

Password
Linksys

http://192.168.1.1/

“blank” or admin

admin
Netgear

http://192.168.0.1 or http://192.168.1

admin

password or 1234
Trendnet

http://192.168.1.1

admin

admin
DLink

http://192.168.0.1

admin

“blank” or admin

Now before you get upset that I’ve given up the farm, just think are you using the default passwords with your wireless access points; are you using the default IP address; did you know that this information is readily available from the manufacturers support site? Take a little time, read Brian’s article, and think about it. Are you going to make any changes?

Filed Under: Backup and Security, Blog, Business Tools, Maintenance, Network Maintenance, Network Security Tagged With: , , , , ,

Is your wireless naked?

October 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Over the years I have always been reluctant to endorse or install wireless networks for clients, but who am I fooling as I set in my neighborhood coffee shop and begin this post? Wireless networking is fact of life for all of us, so let’s be clear that the primary issue with wireless networks is always security. Wireless network security has two major points of vulnerability: 1. Laptop vulnerability in open networks and 2. Securing wireless access points (wireless routers).

Whether your workstation is wired or wireless it can always be a target for hackers or malicious malware (viruses, Trojans, worms, etc.). All networks should have a physical/hardware firewall separating the network computers from the Internet. Depending on the level of sophistication, the firewall can not only provide separate private addresses for the local network, thus separating the local network from internet, but more sophisticated firewalls can also control or limit the type of inbound and outbound traffic. In many coffee shops and open networks there is no access control except network address translation (NAT) to provide private addresses for multiple machines which allows them to access the internet using one internet connection. This is done to accommodate all wireless users that may come in wanting to use the wireless internet.  Some “hot spots” require a web interface logon which may require an additional paid access or some kind of acknowledgment (room number or agreement) which may mean that remote access is better controlled with increased security. In addition, some of these locations may limit remote access Virtual Private Networking (VPN) or remote desktop access (RDP) allowing only web based email or Remote Web Workplace connections. In that case, however, the security is increased.

On the other hand, you are at the local neighborhood coffee shop and what do you do?

Install a personal firewall! The following links provide a list of current personal firewalls including several that are free: http://www.firewallguide.com/software.htm#Top_Picks and http://personal-firewall-software-review.toptenreviews.com/. I don’t make any recommendations because other than intrusion defense the various models work differently. Some are configured automatically (my favorite) while others are more technical; if you don’t know what SMB or ICMP means, work with the more easily managed applications.

As stated earlier, I believe all sites whether office or home should always have a physical firewall in place and wireless routers can also serve that purpose. Note that the range can be varied both in function and cost; recently one of the professional magazines to which I subscribe gave a list of 5 quality WLAN (Wireless Local Access Network) adapters: http://www.channelpro-digital.com/channelpro/201009?folio=20#pg22. Take time to do a little research about the appliance you want to buy; besides being rated for bandwidth speed, I recommend that the appliance have a web interface that you can understand and if you are using virtual private networking to access a site make sure that its firewall can be configurable and that it allows VPN pass through. When I encounter a router that I’m not familiar with, I go to the manufacturer site and look at the user manual and view not only technical specs but also how to configure the router for my clients.

Finding the right wireless adapter/access point is only part of the issue when setting up a wireless network. Almost all of the consumer grade products come ready to go, just plug it in and you can reach the internet. Although this can make life simple, an open network is an invitation to trouble; therefore the next step, configure encrypted wireless access. Did you look at how to configure wireless security when you reviewed the user manual? Use WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) encrypted security. We aren’t a how to site but take a look at Brian Posey’s evolving discussion regarding Wi-Fi vulnerabilities and how to secure your home or office network: http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/Securing-Wireless-Network-Traffic-Part1.html. Wireless networks are a fact of all of our lives but there are risks; please play heads up ball.

Filed Under: Backup and Security, Blog, BNS Services, Maintenance, Network Maintenance, Network Security Tagged With: , , , , ,

Simple Security

September 8, 2010 By 1 Comment

Last month, shortly after finishing a telephone call with my friend “Lucy” I got an email from her saying that she was stranded in London, her suit cases and passport had been stolen and although she had found refuge at the US consulate she needed some money to tide her over until problems could be resolved there. I know spam when I see it so I deleted the message.

Later that day I got a panicked call from Lucy relating how her Hotmail account had been hacked, her account password had been changed, and the problems she encountered with Hotmail trying to regain control of her account to change her password and eventually delete the account. Lucy uses this account as one of her business email accounts and she was much chagrined when a spam/solicitation email was sent to all of the addresses in her email address book. Besides of the embarrassment, Lucy had to contact all of the people on her list to explain and apologize for some criminal’s actions.

I tell this story not to point a finger at Lucy but to illustrate that crooks and thieves use any method possible to gain control of your personal information though hacking, viruses, spam, and other malware. My message is to be careful. I’m often angered when I talk with clients who don’t get that point. Although nothing is fool proof, may I make the following suggestions?

  1. Change your user passwords several times a year (ideally change passwords every 90 days). More often than I’d like I’m confronted by a client who finds that passwords are too much of an inconvenience. Even if you only have one computer at least put a password on it to keep the kids out.
  2. Not using your computer? Log out or shut it down. Before we became so environmentally conscious it was customary to always leave business computers on to allow for operating system updates and remote access but in today’s world if your aren’t going to remote into your workstation over the weekend shut it down. If you are going to use the machine at least log out to break the direct link to the server and your user profile.
  3. When was the last time you updated and ran your antivirus or antimalware software? Yes I know that these applications are automated but other than just a maintenance check are they running properly?
  4. Do you have a personal software firewall installed on your computer? Many of us laptop users are at home sitting at the neighborhood coffee shop. Although the major coffee vendors include some sort of authentication and have monitored systems most local coffee houses do not; which gives rise to a concern for added hacking security. Most major personal antivirus and personal firewall vendors now offer Internet security products which include anti-virus, anti-spam, and firewall protection. I like the additional firewall protection but it requires that you learn how to use it as to not block you favorite programs. I’ll discuss this more next month.

With the convenience of the Internet comes added responsibility; quite often the most secure thing you can do is turn off your computer or change your passwords every several months.

Filed Under: Blog, CyberCrime, Maintenance, Network Security Tagged With: , , , , ,

Now is the time for Windows 7

September 1, 2010 By Leave a Comment

I’ve been using Windows 7 for over a year at this point and after Vista have been quite pleased. Standard practice for many independent IT pros has been to recommend delaying installing new operating systems until many of the kinks had been worked out. In addition, Windows XP does not have a natural migration path to Windows 7, i.e. clean install. My recommendation was for businesses to wait and replace existing Windows XP computers with new Windows 7 machines; but that was last year. What are we doing now?

Recently, I received several requests inquiring about the cost associated with “upgrading” Windows XP workstations to Windows 7. Well, my hourly rates stay fairly standard depending on the tasks but more importantly: Who am I talking to, what kind of business are we talking about, and what is the condition of the workstations and network? I understand the reluctance to exchange information with a stranger but I don’t proceed unless we can meet and those questions are answered. Given my position I thought I’d take the time to outline several issues about installing Windows 7 Business edition.

First off, if you are a business please purchase Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate for your network. These versions allow for more network flexibility and improved network functionality, printing, and security. Yes, I know Costco, Best Buy, and Fry’s have good deals on various home versions on new computers but purchasing the appropriate version saves us all potential problems down the road when you decide to grow your network or install a server to your network. More specifically, let me highlight a few issues that need to be considered before you consider moving to Windows 7 (32 or 64 bit):

  1. There is no Windows 7 upgrade path for the following operating systems:
    1. Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows XP, Windows Vista® RTM, Windows Vista Starter, Windows 7 M3, Windows 7 Beta, Windows 7 RC, or Windows 7 IDS.
    2. Windows NT® Server 4.0, Windows 2000 Server, Windows Server® 2003, Windows Server 2008, or Windows Server 2008 R2.
  2. Supported upgrade paths:
From Windows Vista (SP1, SP2) Upgrade to Windows 7
Business Professional, Enterprise, Ultimate
Enterprise Enterprise
Home Basic Home Basic, Home Premium, Ultimate
Home Premium Home Premium, Ultimate
Ultimate Ultimate

  1. Is your current computer hardware adequate to run Windows 7? I know that your computer is labeled Vista compatible but will all Windows 7 features work? Take time to explore the Windows 7 system requirements. Better yet Microsoft has supplied a tool, Windows 7 Upgrade Advisory tool, this can save you research time and point out hardware limitations and possible hardware upgrades if necessary.
  2. Included in the hardware requirements is driver support for network adapters and video cards. The advisory tool should inform you of this factor but if there is any doubt, check with the hardware vendor and download the appropriate driver before you begin you upgrade or installation. Believe me this will save you quite a lot of time and hassle.
  3. Whether you upgrade or perform a clean install, check to make sure that your favorite line of business software and other applications will work with Windows 7. This is particularly important if you move from 32 to 64 bit hardware. In addition to going to the vendor support website, use your favorite search engine, explore the experiences of other users, and call the vendor if there is any doubt. There is nothing more sad than listening to a client who has their major database in dos, Excel 2000, or FoxPro but doesn’t realize this until they upgraded their entire network and all of their business is dependent on this software. Do you buy the upgrade version of your software; migrate the database to new software; have new software built or start from scratch and manually re-input a lifetime of customer and inventory information?
  4. Whether you are doing a clean install or an upgrade it is essential that you backup your data before you begin. Note: backup will include all of your documents and data but not applications (programs). Also note, that Windows XP backup is not compatible with Windows 7. If you use third party backup tools make sure they are compatible with Windows 7. To facilitate the backup of data prior to moving to Windows 7, Microsoft provides the “Easy Transfer Tool”.
  5. For more complete information about “Upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7“, see http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/help/upgrading-from-windows-xp-to-windows-7.

I’ll talk about early adoption later but from here on out as businesses purchase new computers or look to upgrade their networks, Windows 7 is going to be the operating system of choice. Fear of change should not be a guideline as you move forward but advance planning should be your mantra.

Filed Under: Blog, Business Tools, Microsoft, Network Assessment, Operating Systems, Windows 7 Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Corey’s Corner | Avoiding Scammers

August 5, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Usually I write about getting your website up and running. I’m going to take a little detour this time around and talk about a persistent and seemingly never ending problem them plagues businesses and private residences alike: scammers/spammers.

We’ve all gotten the gibberish emails, the “male enhancement”, Russian dating and Nigerian prince emails. We all know they’re spam and opening them or downloading a file from them can spell our computer or network’s doom. Did you know, however, about Tab Nabbing? I sure didn’t. Apparently, the new way scammers get your information is by opening a new tab with a dummy site loaded in it mimicking Amazon.com or your bank website. The goal is to trick you into putting your information into the fake site and giving the scammers your password. With that in hand, they can drain your account, buy expensive items, or, in the case of Facebook and your email, send distressed emails to the people in your address book asking for money to get you out of a jam.

With new scams being born every minute in cyberspace, it’s hard to keep up with all the possible dangers. Just this last weekend, I received an email telling me that one of my friends on Facebook recommended a page. I clicked on the link and thankfully nothing happened. I heard later that day from that same friend letting me know that his account had been hacked, and that any emails from him via Facebook should be ignored. (I of course immediately changed my password and kept vigilant for any unusual activity on my account for the next week or so.) With all these new dangers being born any moment, what can we do to keep our information safe?

Two excellent tips offered by scambusters.org is to always pay attention to the icons in your browser. For secures sites such as bank sites, Amazon.com, etc, the padlock, located on the lower right side for many browsers, should be lit up. Also, the URL should look like it normally does. (ie Amazon.com/a long string of characters that allow you to log in.) If the URL doesn’t look right, or you are suspicious, re-enter the URL. If you’re super paranoid, like me, you can also search for the company using Google or Bing. Search Engines are usually pretty good at not recognizing dummy URLs, and Google especially is harsh on scammers when it can. So when in doubt, simply close the tab and try to get to the site in another way. Another excellent resource is snopes.com. You can search urban legends, chain letters and many other possibly shady things using their database of information. They also usually have fairly up to date information on new scams.

While it’s hard to keep on top of keeping your information safe in cyberspace, vigilance is key. While the internet can seem like an endless playground of information, toys and entertainment, you can never let yourself forget that there are people out there that will take your information and use it for nefarious purposes if they can get a hold of it. Pay attention, close tabs when you aren’t using them, and you should be all right.

Filed Under: Blog, Corey's Corner, CyberCrime, Network Security Tagged With: , , , ,

Security: When was the last time you updated your software?

June 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

As SMB network system administrators we tend to focus on client “pain points”, i.e., “When did you realize that you needed help?” Was it when your hard drive failed and all data was lost? Did a workstation become infected with a virus or malware which prevented your staff from using the Internet? Or maybe you couldn’t get the computers in your office to talk to each other. We promote network maintenance because it is the best approach to avoid many common small business pain points. We try to seriously to talk business owners out of the “break fix” mode of thinking about their networks because in the long run it is more costly and is not an economical means for planning for the future. Besides, if I have to brow-beat clients about the most critical backbone of their business neither of us are winners. Trying to get by on the cheap is just another quick sale; which is not the basis for a lasting relationship. I want to be the trusted adviser for the technical issues related to your business network. For me trust is the first step in developing a secure computer network.

The next step for maintaining a secure network is keeping the operating system and all installed software up to date. Yes, even MACs need to get updated periodically. I know this sounds like a simple no brainer, especially since both Windows and MACs can update critical security patches automatically. Do you know how to manually update your operating system? I periodically manually update workstations (and always manually update servers) because there are always other types of updates available besides security updates; specifically, hardware drivers or additional product functionality can be included in basic system updates. Most of us have several other programs installed on our workstations, including web browsers (Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera, etc.); image/photo editing software (Photoshop, Fireworks, Gimp, Pixelmator, etc.); accounting  software (such as QuickBooks, Quicken, PeachTree, etc.); database software (FileMaker and Access); and customer/donor management software (Maximizer, ACT, Goldmine, and Microsoft CRM) and of course antivirus software (Norton, TrendMicro, McAfee, Sophos, Panda, etc.) that are useless if not weekly updated and renewed. Most of today’s software has some form of automated process for updates (either periodic updating or user notice to complete update); you should make yourself familiar with this process for all of your critical software. I was recently made aware of an Adobe Flash security flaw, http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-20006893-83.html and http://www.adobe.com/support/security/advisories/apsa10-01.html: the primary issue about this update is that it affects all major operating systems, Windows, MAC, and Linux. How many times have you blown off that annoying Adobe Flash update notice? To me this drives home the point that we are all vulnerable to some degree. I don’t expect you to become a security expert but timely updating can help increase the security of your workstation and network.

Filed Under: Maintenance, Maintenance Plans, Network Maintenance, Network Security Tagged With: , , ,
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