Those who are put-off by noisy or inefficient PC cooling fans should consider upgrading to the new Corsair ML-series fans. They use maglev technology to defy the laws of physics and give you the most efficient PC cooling yet available. The maglev technology also defies earlier Corsair schematics by using powerful magnets that suspend fan blades away from the motor’s central bearing, which results in far quieter and reliable fan performance – even at higher speeds. The new Corsair ML-series model is also notable because the fan blades make almost no physical contact with any other casing parts, allowing for higher rotation speeds at lower decibels of noise output. Implications of New Corsair Technology One can guess at the implications of Corsair’s decision to go with maglev (magnetic levitation) technology over the noisier, clunkier models of PC cooling fans. Once you start connecting the dots to the Internet of Things possibilities, one can see that it won’t be just PC cooling fans that will use this technology. Cars, power tools, and other devices will also use the maglev innovation in order to make the devices we use more efficient, quiet, and productive. For IT, it will have particular impact. Imagine the uses maglev-tech cooling fans can be put to for servers and large computing stations. Offices themselves will also utilize the maglev technology, so it has cross-industry, universal potential in the global business environment. In June, Corsair released new memory and case fans, along with an updated Carbide 400C case at Computex 2016 in Taipei. It’s obvious that Corsair is serious about innovating technology solutions for a more streamlined, high-performance future. Corsair already makes ventilators, all-in-one fans, and liquid CPU coolers which themselves all have Internet of Things possibilities, besides those of immediate, practical application. An office of well-cooled hardware is a more productive and better-performing one. Where to Buy Corsair Fans The new Corsair fans come in both 120 mm and 140 mm. A Pro version features rubberized corners that further dampen noise and vibration at the higher RPMs, and also comes in a wider variety of colors. Prices range from $24.99 to $39.99, depending on the size and illumination options you choose. PC Cooling Questions? If you have questions regarding better PC cooling technology, {company} is the leader in providing IT consulting and hardware rollouts in {city}. Contact one of our expert IT staff at {phone} or send us an email at {email} today, and we will help you with any of your hardware cooling and IT needs.

In order to remain in business, stay competitive, and keep yourself and your company safe from a data loss disaster, there is a fairly standardized checklist that should be followed if you expect to survive the oft-treacherous contemporary conditions of business computing and Web connectivity. Here are 10 things you should have on your data network disaster survival checklist: Implement a solid business continuity plan. This is perhaps the sin qua non in the world of IT support and protection. It allows a given entity to continue doing business through any cyber threat, data breach, or natural disaster, such as fire, flood, or earthquake that destroys part or all of a physical IT framework. Effective business continuity can occur because of cloud-based or offsite backup, which allows remote access to data via cloud servers. Have a firm disaster recovery policy in place. As a subset (and very necessary) part of Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery, or DR, is essential to keeping a healthy IT network and a future in doing business in a Web-based or cybernetic manner. It involves the employment of a set of procedures or policies that ensure the recovery of data which is vital to business operations and continuation, generally through cloud-based means. Utilize employee cyber safety training and policies in the workplace. Employee cyber safety training and strict policies will cut down significantly on the risk of incurring a serious data breach and any subsequent data loss, downtime, or threat to the company’s future operations. Use antivirus protections on all computers on the network. Using effective antivirus software on all the computer terminals on your IT network will ensure the filtering out of spam, email phishing, malware and other exploits. Don’t ignore the suggested software updates. They may be annoying to most of us, but studies show that it’s a bad idea to ignore the pop-ups from Microsoft and other tech or software platforms. If you don’t want to leave it to your staff to do, have an IT support team that can force updates and upgrades overnight, to eliminate the ignorance of these important updates. Use cloud computing to cut down on overhead cost and data liability. Being able to use cloud computing services to collaborate on projects saves cost and liability in so many ways. Imagine what is saved on travel costs alone, to be able to telecommute or teleconference via shared docs in Office 365, Exchange, and other programs that streamline business productivity and ensure data disaster recovery. Perform a regular network system check. This should be done by an IT professional or support team, and will analyze and report any deficiencies in your IT network’s infrastructure. Perform regular PC maintenance. Performing regular PC maintenance has a built-in checklist of its own which includes: Daily data backup Weekly scans for malware Monthly disk defrags Monthly scanning of your hard drive for errors Twice-per-year backing-up of hard drive as an image Do semi-regular server maintenance checks. A 12-point server maintenance checklist, as part of healthy server management, should include such steps as backup verification, updating of your OS and control panel, changing passwords, and the checking of remote management tools, server utilization, and system security. Click on the previous link for more info on how to perform a 12-step server check. Have the most pro-active data loss prevention measures in place. This can include cybersecurity, intrusion detection and prevention, firewalls, antivirus software, cloud-based storage and software services, and can come as a “turnkey solution” with the right IT company and performance-assurance systems on the job. If you have questions regarding the best checklist for surviving data disaster, {company} is the leader in providing IT consulting in {city}. Contact one of our expert IT staff at {phone} or send us an email at {email}, and we can help you with all of your IT network needs.

In case you needed another reason for regularly changing your passwords, the recently-uncovered Yahoo hack of 500 million accounts is probably the reason of the decade so far. The hack and subsequent data theft involving half a billion Yahoo accounts is the largest of its kind – ever. Granted, it is Yahoo, where most people don’t send or store any sensitive data like payment card information (PCI) or other personally-identifiable or compromising information anyway, but it’s the principle of the thing. The Web-based giant has confirmed that the hacked information includes: Names Email addresses Telephone numbers Dates of birth Hashed passwords (the vast majority with the password-hashing function bcrypt) And, “in some cases,” encrypted or unencrypted security questions and answers. Yahoo Serious? Yahoo is alleging that the massive data breach “didn’t include unprotected passwords, payment card data, or bank account information.” The popular search engine and email host denies that it stores any payment card or bank account information in its database. And, although it blames a “state-sponsored actor” for the cyberattack (apparently from Russia, according to Yahoo and US intelligence officials), the fact remains that Yahoo allowed a hack of epic proportions to happen on its servers and domains, making the practical point clear to all of us: “Change and encrypt your passwords regularly.” The Yahoo hack resembles previous data breaches of huge Web-based giants like LinkedIn, Tumblr, and Adobe, as well as healthcare facility hacks where Ukrainian hackers claimed responsibility for at least one of them. This latest and biggest hack ever is so disconcerting, because the cyber breach occurred a full two years earlier. It repeats a pattern we have seen in these cybercrime cases where we don’t learn of the data thefts until well after they have happened. And, it’s also disconcerting for another glaring reason: Yahoo failed to inform its users of the hack and suggest a password reset in August 2016 when the news was first made public. The Password-Changing Argument There is great debate amongst white hat hackers and IT specialists on whether regular password changes are a good thing or not. The argument for seems to stem from situations like the Yahoo hack – basically, the “change when urgently required” rule. Studies have shown that routine password changes of every few months appear only to frustrate office staff, with new passwords only being variations on old ones anyway, and written on sticky notes attached to monitors, which defeats the purpose of safety. But, the pro-password change argument remains in serious cases like data breaches involving half a billion accounts. The Takeaway Basically, no one’s data is 100% safe online, even when supposedly protected over secure servers and databases. Too-frequent password changing may be just as risky as never changing them, so a happy medium here is prudent. A good rule of thumb is to stick with one hard-to-decrypt password, maybe alter a number or letter here and there, and never share any financial or personally-compromising information on unsecured channels of communication.

A new study done on online safety by German scientists reveals that 56% of email recipients and roughly 40% of Facebook users click on links from unknown senders. This is a particularly disturbing statistic, given what we all know about spam, malware, and phishing links that the unscrupulous embed in cyber messages designed to entice you right into dangerous, exploitative waters. It seems the main reason participants clicked on the hazardous links – even though they (78% of respondents) were well aware of the danger – was curiosity. Well, we all know what curiosity did to the cat. And, what it can do to you and your computer, data network, and business can be shocking at best, and catastrophic at worst. So, why do many people continue to click when they should delete or ignore? It seems that enticements that involve something personal or the promise of money or prizes are too hard for most to resist. Provocative visuals were also cited by participants as reasons for the irresistible urge that got the better of them. The use of personally-identifiable names in the messages was also a big motivator, understandably (to a point). But, aren’t we smarter than this in 2016, with all we know about email phishing scams, adware, scareware, ransomware, and all of the many-faceted cyber threats bombarding us? It appears that many will gladly toss caution to the wind and gamble their luck on the craps table of the cyber sphere, if the enticement looks passable enough. A Cautionary Tale Well, looks aren’t everything, especially on the Web. Caution should be the order of the day for everyone – from the neophyte, individual user to the largest corporations and government bodies – no matter what link to whatever from your “old friend from high school” lands in your Facebook or email inbox. Sure, humans can be fooled. Our gullibility when it comes to supposed gifts, enticements, letters, special messages, etc. spikes in a world that tends to cut us short “out there,” offline, in the real world. But, people, and especially business enterprises need to be stalwart and vigilant on this matter. After all, with more employees claiming to use social media during work hours, the chances of someone on your staff clicking a malware-loaded link are extremely high. You really should have a “zero tolerance” policy in the workplace towards clicking on unsolicited email or Facebook links that aren’t verified by the sender and receiver as being business-related. Period. For a Safer, Better Web Luckily, there are steps you can take and tools you can use to make your online experience safer and better, such as link safety websites. And, if you have further questions or concerns about email and Facebook phishing and scams and better Web link safety, {company} is the leader in providing cybersecurity and IT consulting in {city}. Our Web security platform can keep your employees navigating safely while blocking non-business sites. Contact one of our expert IT staff at {phone} or send us an email at {email}, and we will be happy to help.

It’s a concern many of us may have – whether or not someone has read a sent email message. It concerns both personal and business email users and works just the same as it would with a snail-mail letter – we want to know if the sender got or read our mail, ignored it, or never got it at all. Well, one way of finding out is by the use of email tracking, which utilizes a digitally time-stamped record that keeps track of the exact date and time your email arrived in your intended recipient’s inbox, or was opened, as well as recording the IP address of the email receiver. There are also concerns about the inconsistency of automatic email tracking in some circles, though complaints seem few and far between. Certain email tracking apps have traditionally been able only to tell you if the recipient saw that they received the email in their inbox, but advances in email tracking technology have now allowed certain clients to know whether those emails were indeed opened up, how many times it was opened, and even if multiple people opened the message. Email tracking that uses eye-tracking software to read the eyes of recipients in relation to opened emails is probably not too far down the road, judging by the rapidity of these advances. It’s Just Like Read Receipts Many of you have probably used read receipts in social media or instant messaging, but unlike in that format, you can’t toggle off read receipts within a given email service. You probably have a bunch of email-tracked messages in your inbox right now and don’t know it, though most are used by email marketing and CRM services. Ironically, it seems less disconcerting to have some corporate tracking device on sent emails than those used by close family and friends – after all, what if close relatives and friends judge you as being deliberately ignorant of their attempts to communicate with you? But, personal or business implications aside, there’s no doubt that email tracking software will evolve and become a more controversial issue in the future. Email Tracking Stats The market for email tracking is rapidly growing. The CRM industry is worth billions of dollars – many of those dollars spent based on who’s reading – and who’s discarding – their mail. The MailTrack Chrome extension has close to half a million users, gaining 60,000 per month as of July 2016. The MailTrack email tracking app recently celebrated its one-billionth tracked email, after only three years in service. Bananatag is another email tracking service, claiming to have a quarter of a million users and 25 million emails tracked so far. Since 2013, the number of folks using email tracking apps has increased by nearly 300%, according to Conrado Lamas, head of communications at MailTrack. Have Questions About Email Tracking? If you need more information on how to install email tracking software, {company} is the leader in providing IT consulting in {city}. Contact one of our IT experts at {phone} or send us an email at {email} for more info, and we will be happy to help you reach your goal.

They date back all the way to 1971, but the Pentagon is still employing floppy disks as part of their tests and military maneuvers. A May 2016 Popular Science article claims that their use by the Pentagon is “probably safer than newer technologies,” which may be exactly why the Department of Defense is using them as part of maneuvers involving nuclear drills and testing. It may also have to do with the recent hacking of several U.S. government agencies, including NASA, the NSA, and FBI. But, as the Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently noted in a report on legacy systems still in use by the U.S. government: “The Department of Defense Strategic Automated Command and Control System, which coordinates the operational functions of the United States’ nuclear forces, such as intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear bombers, and tanker support aircraft is woefully outdated.” Just how outdated? “This system runs on an IBM Series/1 Computer—a 1970s computing system— and uses 8-inch floppy disks,” the GAO report continues. Those 8-inch floppy disks date all the way back to 1971. So, why are they still in use – and by the most militarily capable government on the globe? Good question. A Pentagon spokeswoman told the AFP news agency in reply to the question, that, “This system remains in use because, in short, it still works.” And, it’s the fact that the IBM 1 Series computers that use the disks, as well as the disks themselves being so secure against cyberattack, that there is no rush to replace or upgrade the current DOD system. Which may prove a certain limited point on how a facet of legacy computer systems may actually prove safer than the use of something less…tangible? But perhaps only in such a unique situation as the strategic air command control systems and drills being used by the Pentagon and DOD. If you asked an IT expert, “Is it safer to use 8-inch floppy disks, or floppy disks in general than USB drive or cloud backup?” he or she would probably laugh and give you an unequivocal “No.” But, it appears that the Pentagon’s own CIO experts are taking the point of view that if a legacy system isn’t broken, don’t fix it. Certainly, some old-school techies like the idea of old Uncle Sam stuck in the early 1970s, utilizing big, floppy, cumbersome square things to store ultra-sensitive and exploitable government data. But, those old-school types may be in for some disappointment (as will those who argue for the large-format data storage method over more vulnerable USB drives), as the Strategic Automated Command and Control System is due for a lengthy upgrade beginning in 2017, and slated to last through 2020. Need Safe Data Storage Advice? If you’d like expert advice on the best way to keep sensitive data safe from exploitation – especially if you are in a high-risk industry such as government – then {company} is the leader in providing managed IT services and consulting in {city}. Contact our expert IT staff at {phone} or send us an email at {email} if you have any questions or concerns regarding safe data storage and security, and we will be happy to answer any and all your questions.

After spending a half-decade operating undetected, an APT (advanced persistent threat) known as “ProjectSauron” has been uncovered by both Symantec and Kaspersky Labs. A group called “Strider” has been using Remsec, an advanced tool that appears to have been designed for spying. According to Symantec, the malware has been active since at least October 2011. Symantec became aware of ProjectSauron when their behavioural engineer detected the virus on a customer’s systems. Kaspersky’s software detected the malware in a Windows domain controller as an executable library registered as a Windows password filter. The spyware can deploy custom modules as required, and has a network monitor. Once it has infected a system, it can open backdoors, log keystrokes, and steal files. It is heavily encrypted, allowing it to avoid detection as it takes control, moving across the network and stealing data. As many of its functions are deployed over the network, it resides only in the computer’s memory, not on disk. This, along with the fact that several components are in the form of Binary Large Objects makes it extremely difficult for antivirus software to detect. So far, evidence of a ProjectSauron infection has been detected in 36 computers by Symatec, spanning seven separate organizations in Russia, China, Sweden, and Belgium, as well as individual’s PCs in Russia. Kaspersky has found more than 30 infections across Russia, Iran, and Rawanda, and suspects that Italy may also have been targeted. Both Symantec and Kaspersky have suggested that a nation-state may be behind this APT. Kaspersky has collected 28 domains and 11 IP addresses in the US and Europe that may be connected to ProjectSauron campaigns. While it appears that the spyware has gone dark, no one can confirm whether or not Strider’s efforts have ceased. If Strider is in fact a nation-state attacker, these infections will likely continue to crop up. The fact that ProjectSauron operates by mimicking a password filter module is yet another indication that it may be time for technology users worldwide to move away from relying on passwords, favoring instead biometrics and other more sophisticated security measures. Need more information on how to best protect your data, devices and business against malware? Contact {company} at {phone} or {email} with your questions. We’re the trusted IT professionals for businesses in {city}.

We can’t escape it in our current-day, online, Web-connected culture: Every day it seems there is another news story about a business organization that’s been hit with yet another data breach, and which has cost that organization sometimes many hundreds of thousands of dollars. If you’re a healthcare facility or organization, then it could be HIPAA fines on top of what the data breach or ransomware attack costs you. The recent data breach at Athens Orthopedic, has affected nearly 200,000 patients. The CEO of the organization that underwent the breach has made a statement to their clients, however, that they cannot pay what would amount to “millions of dollars [to] pay for credit monitoring for nearly 200,000 patients and keep Athens Orthopedic as a viable business”. The reason credit monitoring plays into this situation is that financial information was hacked during the June 14 attack, and it became incumbent upon the clinic to monitor and correct the credit reports of patients whose banking and financial info might be exploited by way of a report to the three major credit reporting bureaus that the individuals’ financial info was stolen. It’s unknown at this time whether, under PCI compliance laws the health care organization could be given Payment Card Industry fines as well. Implications of Healthcare Data Breach Anyone who truly understands IT security and data networking knows that that is somewhat of a naïve statement to have made, and also sadly indicative of the fact that Athens Orthopedic could have – nay, should have had proper managed IT services in place, and obviously didn’t. It would have saved yet another healthcare facility yet more embarrassment, bad public relations, lost revenue, and potentially huge HIPAA fines. All of that on top of having to fix the problem then finally resorting to getting IT support that includes monthly IT infrastructure maintenance that would have prevented the disaster in the first place! Get Reliable IT Monitoring Doesn’t it make better sense to have reliable IT services in place before disaster strikes? Any IT professional will advise you of this – that in today’s day and age of ransomware, malware, spyware, email phishing scams, and hackers cyberattacking vulnerable data networks opportunistically you have to make sure those hackers have no chance to infiltrate your data center, right from the get-go.  Especially if you’re a business charged with the responsibility of keeping Protected Health Information (PHI) safe and secure with the threat of HIPAA fines staring you down if you don’t! Do you have questions or concerns about expensive data breaches and getting IT support that covers all the bases to prevent them? {company} is the leader in providing managed IT services in {city}.  Contact our expert IT staff at {phone} or send us an email at {email}, and we will be happy to answer your questions.

Have you heard about the Internet of Drones yet? It’s an idea whose time has truly come. You probably saw it coming with all the proliferation and controversy about drones in recent years. Pundits have compared the spike in drone popularity and filling the airways to that of air traffic post World War One. Noting the similar safety concerns of having so many machines roaming around up there, similar regulations and flight monitoring devices are being implemented for remote-controlled drones. One of the major precipitating factors for this move is the increasing place of importance drones have occupied in our culture, such as acting as cameras for numerous TV and film productions, as well as in military and security. A Framework for Drone Safety Robert J. Hall of AT&T Labs coined the term “Internet of Drones,” as part of a paper called An Internet of Drones, published in May 2016 in IEEE Internet Computing. In the paper, Hall talks of “airspace awareness,” “non-line-of-site control,” Collision Avoidance and the principle of Augmentative Control, which assigns things such as no-fly zones, and green zones, or “geofences”. The article also outlaid a prototype system called the Geocast Air Operations Framework (GAOF), that provides for “novel network and software architectures” to ensure drone safety. All of these were major points of Hall’s article, and influenced the FAA to make security and safety precautions that would keep both the drones and bystanders safe from possible collisions. The move paves the way for the Internet of Drones to truly take flight. Other Concerns and Hazards The military refers to drones as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), or Remotely Piloted Aerial Systems (RPAS). In addition to the military application and safety issues, drones have presented another danger due to some users using them maliciously, such as for: Conveying explosive payloads Chemical, radiological, or biological hazards Hacked drones Criminal and terrorist use Networking Drones The different modes of drone travel posed by recreational, commercial, and military use presents another slant in the Internet of Drones story. As far as a wireless network for drones goes on this concern, the answer appears to be in geographic addressing, or GA, which assigns individual drone IP addresses. Additionally, a geographic address is assigned to individual drones, which can operate on a two-tiered communication system. Drones within one region or assignment area can query one another to gain information on position, speed, height, vector, etc. This will help keep drones safe, when they are in each other’s vicinity, when used for whichever application. It will also help in terms of keeping the public safe from drones. The same concept applies for subnets using stationary IP addresses, only the mobile element presents a wild card that will certainly be cause for much tweaking of the Internet of Drones. Questions and Concerns The public is right to have many questions and concerns regarding this “add-on” to the Internet of Things. If you have concerns about drones on your own network, or the general operation of them, don’t hesitate to inquire. {company} is the leader in providing managed IT services and consulting in {city}. Contact one of us today at {phone} or send us an email at {email}, and we will be happy to answer all your questions.

You may have seen or heard about the reports coming out of Microsoft HQ that the newest as well as future processors by Intel, Qualcomm, and AMD will not support older versions of Windows – namely versions 7 and 8. What does this mean for businesses? Probably an expensive rollout and upgrade if you haven’t taken advantage of the free Windows 10 upgrade within the past year. Basically, if you want to run Windows on the popular computers that run Intel Skylake, Qualcomm or AMD Zen processors you will be required to have Windows 10 as your OS; so says Microsoft. Upcoming iterations of Intel, Qualcomm, and AMD chips such as Kaby Lake silicon, 8996 silicon, and Bristol Ridge silicon, respectively, will not support Windows 7 or 8. Does this seem like an unnecessarily aggressive move by Gates, et al. in Redmond? It might, but getting a seasoned IT support team in there to help you with the upgrades and rollout will make any transition go as smoothly as possible, and you won’t have to worry about incompatible OSes on your desktops and mobiles. Warnings of Future Tense Installing Windows 7 or 8 on computers running Kaby Lake, AMD Zen, or Qualcomm 8996 should result in the driver and security updates being “a bit glitchy,” according to PC World. An Aug. 31 article in Forbes warns users, “If you’re running Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1, you should not buy a new PC with Intel’s 7th Generation Core Kaby Lake processors — or any processor generations that follow. Hat tip to PC World, which pointed this out on Tuesday.” Counter-Point 4-Traders counteracted the aggressive “upgrade or else” hype, though, in a story Sep. 3 saying that Windows 7 and 8 will indeed be supported by Intel Core Kaby Lake processors. Processor analyst Dean McCarron of Mercury Research says the outcome will be just fine when running the older versions of Windows on those new-fangled processors that Microsoft has so loudly warned us about. And, his credibility seems pretty airtight on the matter. Planning, Validation, and Upgrade Some are calling this Microsoft push for Windows 10 aggressive; others say it’s just the efforts of a popular software giant to get its customers on the same, compatible page. Still others are saying you will be just fine when running Windows 7 and 8 on the new-generation processors. Whatever your beliefs or opinions about the matter are, we can help you with the changeover, rollout, and upgrade through planning, validation, and network uniformity. For those of you who wish to remain with older hard drives and previous versions of Windows, there are ways to maintenance chips, as well as alternative OS types you can run – namely Linux Mint, for example. Whatever scenario you choose during the Windows 10 push, our IT team is in your corner to help you make the smoothest changeover or adaptation possible. The IT Pros Who Can Help Only an experienced IT support team is qualified to be your trusted IT services provider. Call us today for a free consultation on what we can do to help you with the Windows 7, 8, and 10 compatibility factor. {company} is the leader in providing managed IT services in {city}.  Contact one of our IT pros at {phone} or send us an email at {email}, and we will be happy to answer all your questions.