Microsoft has introduced a preview of 3D Paint and the results are amazing. The entire way people interact with Paint is going to change in a positive way. If you have ever enjoyed the Paint app provided by Windows, your experience is about to get a lot better. Microsoft has just introduced a small preview of a 3D Paint app that will be part of the Windows 10 operating system bundle. When Can You Expect to Have Access? Since the new app is only part of a preview, it is not available to every just yet. The expected release with the bundle is set for March 2017. The addition of this new app is designed to attract more creator types and will be a standard component of the system. If you are a Microsoft insider, you may already have access to the preview and can begin testing it out for yourself. What Have People Discovered with the Preview? The preview is only available in English but three have already been some leaked features that people are enjoying. First, the move from 2D to 3D is impressive. You can change a 2D object into a 3D one with the app and even create one from scratch. The app makes it very easy to complete the task and you can use all kinds of new tools such as oil brushes, watercolors, and even smudge the paint. The app is also connected to Remix3D.com so you can pull inspiration from there. On the website you can even showcase your own artwork. Paint Isn’t What it Used to Be Paint has come a long way in recent years and you can now create very realistic looking graphics Your design can come to life in no time at all with these updated textures and materials. You can even create your own MEME’s with 3D stickers that will appropriately fit around objects. Once you have access to the app, you will want to go crazy creating emojis and other items with pictures of your friends. When you doodle, like you probably did for many years with the original app, those doodles can come to life. They will become 3D and you can really do anything with them. 3D Paint is changing the face of the creative comoponent of Windows. You may have to wait until March 2017 to enjoy it but it will be worth it. For more information, be sure t contact {company} in {city} via {phone} or {email}.

A cell phone number is a powerful thing and can lead to potential security breaches. Your cell phone number is connected to a lot of things. If you are like most Americans, you have it connected to your social media accounts, bank accounts, and more as added protection. If you are using your cell phone this way, you need to think twice before you give your number to anyone. It may seem harmless but in today’s world, it can be just as dangerous as giving someone your bank account number. Unlike a social security number, a cell phone number is not a protected piece of information. This means that while companies are legally required to protect your social security number, they are not required to do the same thing with your cell phone number. About ten years ago, people had home phones more than they had cell phones. The opposite is true today. More people today will have the same cell phone numbers and social security numbers for their entire lives. This poses a huge security threat. Some investigators argue that a cell phone number, when combined with a name, is even more powerful than a social security number. This is due to the fact that it is connected to many different kinds of databases and it is connected to a device you have with you at all times. Because of these facts, it is important to change the way you protect your cell phone number. You should never provide it to a database unless it is required. Be careful of who you give it to because you do not know what they will do with it. Protect your cell phone number just like you would your social security number. If you would like more information about how this can affect you in {city} contact {company} via {phone} or {email} today.

Office Depot has provided free PC checks for years but new light is being shed on the program as accusations of false diagnoses have surfaced. Office Depot has recently been accused to taking advantage of unsuspecting customers by selling computer repair services for problems that do not exist. Office Depot is known to have free PC health checks at its locations but until recently, nothing has come to the surface about false diagnosing. This came to light because a former employee came forward saying that he believed the company was fraudulently diagnosing computers with customers who may not be aware. A CBS affiliate went undercover as a result an found that an Office Depot was in fact diagnosing issues that did not exist. One of the most common issues presented to customers was malware. In turn, the company said they could fix it for a large price. During the undercover operation, they presented new computers that had not been used and had just come out of the box. For the computers, a computer security firm IOActive, guarantees a clean bill of health. The firms VP of Technology, Will Longman, said himself that there was no evidence of malware when they used the computers as part of their process. During the undercover operation, the CBS affiliate even bought computers from Office Depot and took them to a different store to get them checked out. The other store said they found malware on this device as well. The diagnosing of the computers varied from store to store as well. Where some would recommend anti-virus software, others would say ignore the test results. On the opposite end, you get the serious diagnosis of malware. This shows that Office Depot does not have a set way of handing these free PC checkups and the diagnosis is completely left up to the employee or individual store. For now, a spokesperson for the company is saying they do not take these accusations lightly and will be investigating throughout the company. However, what about the people that have already spent good money on a service that they did not really need. Office Depot should take a look at the program and really fine tune it if they wish to continue. If you want quality and trustworthy examinations of your computers in {city}, be sure to call {company} by {phone}, email us at {email}. If you are having computer problems, right now is a good time to stay away from Office Depot.

Transform Your Small Business With Intelligent Business Applications To Make Life Easier Is your business halted by precious time filling out invoices? Are you struggling with organizing your workflow outside of the office? Or do you need smarter ways to handle your databases? Intelligent business applications may hold the key to unlocking technology solutions that will make your business stronger and run better. From expense trackers, to conferencing scheduling services, mobile desktop operation or workflow assignments, it’s easier to accelerate your business through digital transformations. Cloud services offer tailored apps that allow you to target individual business needs such as operations, sales automation, reporting and customer interaction. With a grounding in advanced analytics and more intelligent computing, utilizing business applications will allow you to push forward through the stumbling blocks of traditional brick and mortar business operations. Microsoft has spent years and billions of dollars of investment on artificial intelligence research focused on individual and organizational achievement. This has been embodied in products like Office 365, Bing Predicts, Skype Translator and Dynamics 365 that help to improve office function, accelerate supply chain management, streamline operations and move more goods and services through the selling process. Built-in intelligence capabilities in Dynamics 365 in particular, allows this application to highlight consumer behaviors, predict services and responses, gather relationship insights, score leads and opportunities and promote cross selling. Microsoft has also branched out to offer intelligent business applications geared towards specific fields or industries, such as its Dynamics 365 for Customer Insights offering which provides more customer focused analytics abilities across CRM, ERP, web social and other digital sources allowing you to enhance your engagement and performance. A further development to Dynamics 365 focuses on a common data model which allows users to build their own custom apps via a professional developer system. The same common data model is used in partner solutions, allowing your business the easy opportunity of extending your capabilities further within your industry to the function of specific apps in its AppSource. Implementing intelligent business applications into your organization puts you on a more competitive technological field. Using these solutions in your business can do away with many of the clunky processes that can severely slow down transactions and workflow and cost you precious time and money. The administration of more intelligent business applications offer both physical and economical benefits that can help to ensure your company’s long term success in a vast digital world.

Yet another data breach of sensitive information involving a healthcare organization has highlighted the extreme need for security risk management amongst those at-risk facilities and organizations with the most liabilities to mitigate. An October18, 2016 press release from HHS.gov (Dept. of Health and Human Services) related the details of the incident, which has cost St. Joseph Health $2.14 million in HIPAA fines due to lack of appropriate data security measures and failing to meet HIPAA compliance standards. The HIPAA Violation Details from HHS On February 14, 2012, St. Joseph Health (SJH) of Irvine, CA, reported to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) that certain files it created for its participation in the Meaningful Use Program, which contained electronic protected health information (ePHI), were publicly accessible on the internet from February 2011 until February 2012, via Google and possibly other internet search engines. The server purchased by SJH to store the files included a file sharing application with default settings that allowed anyone with an internet connection to access them. Upon implementation of this server and the file sharing application, SJH failed to examine or modify it. Consequently, the public had unrestricted access to PDF files containing the ePHI of 31,800 individuals, including patient names, health statuses, diagnoses, and demographic information. St. Joseph Health has agreed to settle potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy and Security Rules following the report that files containing ePHI were publicly accessible through internet search engines from 2011 until 2012. SJH, a nonprofit integrated Catholic health care delivery system sponsored by the St. Joseph Health Ministry, will pay a settlement amount of $2,140,500 and adopt a comprehensive corrective action plan. SJH’s range of services includes 14 acute care hospitals, home health agencies, hospice care, outpatient services, skilled nursing facilities, community clinics and physician organizations throughout California and in parts of Texas and New Mexico. “Entities must not only conduct a comprehensive risk analysis, but must also evaluate and address potential security risks when implementing enterprise changes impacting ePHI,” said OCR Director Jocelyn Samuels. “The HIPAA Security Rule’s specific requirements to address environmental and operational changes are critical for the protection of patient information.” In addition to the $2,140,500 settlement levied against it, SJH has agreed to a corrective action plan that requires the organization to: Conduct an enterprise-wide risk analysis Develop and implement a risk management plan Revise its information security policies and procedures, and Adequately train its staff on these policies and procedures. The Resolution Agreement and Corrective Action Plan may be found on the OCR website at http://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/compliance-enforcement/agreements/sjh. Get Better Information Security Management Now If you require a consultation on getting better IT and data security risk management tools and policies in place for your organization, then you’ll want to speak to an IT consultant at {company}, which is a leader in IT security and services. Call us at {phone}, or email us at {email} today for more information.

Hackers getting into your Android devices through a pre-installed backdoor can get full access to your smartphone and potentially computer network If you are using an Android smartphone in business, you may want to think again. BitSight just reported that certain Android smartphones are vulnerable to hacking, as the Over-the-Air update mechanism is insecure. This potential for hacking is reported in lower priced Android devices, particular from Best Buy and BLU Studio G. This finding means that almost 3 million people throughout the world using Android smartphones are at risk for being attacked by a hacker accessing their phone remotely. This is possible because they have discovered a pre-installed backdoor that contains root privileges. This allows the hacker to gain complete control of the phone. The OTA mechanism that is prone to hacking is found in phones made by Ragentek Group out of China, and the hidden binary contained within provides information to the hacker regarding the user and sets up the potential for the hacker to use the device as a privileged user. This flaw in the Android devices has been hidden well, using a number of techniques to ensure that the binary wasn’t uncovered. A person who wants to hack your Android smartphone can gather all of your personal information off of the device, erase your device remotely, and then use the information gathered to access your business database in order to steal further information. With close to 3 million devices that have been discovered that contain this dangerous rootkit, the outcome could mean a disaster for many Android users. This has been a recurring problem for Android smartphones, as this is the second time this week that investigators have uncovered pre-installed backdoors on Android devices. These devices are sending huge amounts of data to servers in China, and the set up allows your system to be run remotely.

Remove PPTP VPN before upgrading to macOS Sierra & iOS 10 If you have recently set up a PPTP VPN server, macOS Sierra and iOS 10 users will not be able to connect to your server. This is due to the fact that macOS Sierra and iOS 10 systems have removed PPTP connections from VPN profiles once their device is upgraded. Although PPTP protocol is available on OS X El Captain and earlier or iOS 9 and earlier, it isn’t recommended for use as a private, secure method of communication. Reasons for the Transition It has been recently discovered that this form of VPN communication has a number of vulnerabilities. Due to these circumstances, Apple has gone forward by encouraging customers to move on to safe, secure VPN protocols and quit utilizing PPTP for VPN connections. As this decision was made in part by the release of iOS 10 and macOS Sierra, Apple decided to remove PPTP support completely in order to warn customers of the security holes found in the built-in VPN client. By recommending the usage of other VPN clients, Apple customers can continue to receive reliable service from secure communication protocols. If one happens to need access to PPTP VPNs, it is possible to utilize a third-party client with macOS Sierra. If one happens to use OS X El Capitan, popular third-party VPN clients (that support PPTP) are VPN Tracker and Shimo. Other Alternative VPN Networks If one is at a loss in terms of what VPN protocol they should utilize, more secure protocols have been: Cisco IPSec IKEv2/IPSec L2TP/IPSec SSL VPN clients that can be found on the App Stores. Such clients that can be found are SonicWall, Pulse Secure, Palo Alto Networks, Open VPN, NetMotion, MobileIron, F5 Networks, Cisco, Check Point, Aruba, and AirWatch. If you happen to have difficulties figuring out what VPN is best for you in {city}, feel free to contact {company} via phone at {phone} or email at {email} today.

There are only so many hours in a day, and figuring out how to get the most out of each one is a trick we all wish we could master. Or perhaps more importantly, it’s a trick you wish your employees could master. Getting them on the right track is easier than you might expect. As with any skill, the key is to start small. Here are 7 simple things you can do starting right now that can help to boost productivity for your entire team: Utilize Keyboard Shortcuts ­- A keyboard shortcut is simply a sequence or combination of keystrokes that will allow you to perform certain functions, or prompt certain commands in software. There are hundreds of keyboard shortcuts. Some are universal, others are specific to a program or operating system. Having an arsenal of shortcuts for the programs and applications you use every day can be a big time-saver. Think about how often you use something like ALT + Tab to switch between windows, and how annoying it would be to have to go back to using your mouse instead. It may only take a few seconds, but when it’s an action you repeat constantly, those few seconds start to add up. Take Advantage of Outlook Integrations – There are a ton of handy apps and programs that can integrate with your Outlook account. You’re already using your email constantly throughout the day, so making it a tool to help you complete other tasks and stay organized almost feels like common sense. For example, connecting your Outlook account to your Skype account lets you send instant messages and place calls right from your inbox. Utilize the Right Software Platform for Every Need – Whatever you’re trying to manage, create, or complete, chances are there are a dozen different programs or applications that can help you do it. Finding the software that works best for the task at hand and integrates well with the rest of your system might take a bit of research, but it’s well worth the effort. Relying on generic software just because it’s there can be a huge waste of time and energy, and make something simple take twice as long to accomplish. Allow Your MSP to Deal with Vendors on Your Behalf – When your Internet connection goes down, your team is going to have their hands full trying to work around the obvious issues this will create for your business. Asking an employee to step back from an already hectic situation to sit on the phone with your provider to get back up and running is not ideal. By leaving problems like this in the capable hands of your MSP, your staff is free to focus on managing your business while the problem is dealt with by professionals who not only will have a better grasp of what the problem is, but also know your IT infrastructure inside and out. Make your MSP your main point of contact for all things tech-related, and you can spare yourself a lot of frustration when something goes wrong. Have Backup Hardware Available – Computer troubles are never ideal, but having a spare on hand that can be put into use quickly can make a huge difference with regards to offsetting downtime. Consider investing in a backup computer for each of your departments. A system that already has all required software installed and ready to go makes it possible for your employee to get back to work in minutes, instead of losing hours or even days of productivity while the faulty PC is repaired or replaced. Use Dual Monitors – Adding an extra screen to your workstations can save a heap of time by allowing employees to multitask by referencing one screen while working on the other, or comparing documents to make finding necessary information easier. Typing up a report will go much faster when the spreadsheet it’s based off is open and sitting right next to your Word document, offering up data at a glance. Eliminate Social Media Distractions – The urge to check Facebook or Twitter periodically throughout the day can be tough to ignore. Consider using an app like Freedom to block social media sites and allow you to work distraction-free, or set your firewall permissions to prevent access to social media sites from within your office altogether. If you want your workplace to be a work-only environment, there are tools available to make that possible. Want to learn more about the ways {company} can help your business maximize productivity? Contact us at {email} or {phone}. We’re the productivity experts local businesses trust.

On October 21, we learned that the distributed denial-of-service attack has become a vastly greater threat than ever before. By attacking domain name service provider Dyn, a botnet was able to make multiple websites largely unreachable, including Netflix, GitHub, Twitter, the New York Times, and many others. Overloading Dyn with spurious domain name lookups kept it from responding to legitimate requests. DDoS attacks have been around for a long time. The attacker gets control of a large number of machines and coordinates them to flood the target with data packets. 2016 saw attacks of unprecedented scope. The reason is the Internet of Things. Smart devices perform simple tasks with the aid of an Internet connection. The owner can control them or get information from them remotely. Most of them have very poor security. They have default user names and passwords which are difficult to change. Some have their own Wi-Fi access points, without adequate security. Criminals use software such as the infamous “Mirai” to take control of these devices by the thousands and build botnets from them. Traditional computer security measures provide little protection against these attacks. New approaches, designed to meet an attack of a million pinpricks, are necessary. Monitoring traffic for changes from the normal pattern is the first line of defense. The more quickly you can detect an attack, the more quickly you can stop it. Specialized software can dynamically analyze traffic patterns and distinguish bogus from legitimate data packets, giving a quicker indication that an attack is under way. Standard firewalls give very limited protection against DDoS attacks. A Web application firewall (WAF) provides more help by using application-specific rules to block malicious and malformed requests, but it won’t stand up against a heavy attack. A cloud-based mitigation service is the strongest defense against serious DDoS attacks. The people running the service are specialists, and they constantly update their service as new forms of attack appear. These services have large amounts of reserve processing power and can put multiple machines on a single IP address. This extra capacity lets a site absorb a much larger amount of traffic without exceeding its capacity. Website owners can never stand still. New threats develop and require new defenses. Contact us at {email} to learn more about our services, or call {company} in {city} at {phone}.