You have a report due in just a few hours. You just need to make a few more edits to it, and you really need to check that one fact to make sure you’re stating it correctly. Now where was that website? Clicking what looks like the right one takes you somewhere unfamiliar. Suddenly the screen goes crazy, windows popping open, your mouse is out of control. Help! Yes, here it comes: “Your computer has been infected with the Schmoozer virus. Please click the button below to connect to tech support, so that we can help you remove this virus. Failure to clean the infection from your computer could result in complete loss of data.” What should you do? This is a scam. Unfortunately, it’s a pretty old one. It cycles around from time to time, because it is very effective at getting people to give control of their computer to a total stranger. Clicking the link will NOT connect you to tech support. It will instead allow a remote connection to a user somewhere else who will be able to not only install malicious software (malware) on your computer, but also grant that person complete access to your entire computer. You may not think that you have anything worth taking, but that other user can poke around in your computer and see if you have a file that contains your bank password, your email password, etc. They may look to see if they can find little pieces of information about you that, by themselves, don’t say much, but when added together, these little pieces of information can paint enough of a picture for a cyber thief to steal your identity. Additionally, “taking something” is not the only thing a malicious user is after. Most commonly this type of scam is used to configure your computer to be part of a botnet, a network of remotely-controlled computers, or bots, to send out spam in massive quantities. You may not notice anything unusual for quite some time after your computer becomes a bot. Eventually you may see some performance problems, you may see more pop-up windows, and you may get notices from your internet service provider that your network use is unusually high. There are some websites that may blacklist your computer from connecting to them if your computer has been identified as sending out spam messages. Cleaning up after an infection of this type can be unpleasant. The people that installed it aren’t going to want it uninstalled, so it may be difficult to remove. It may take several runs of a malware remover, and it may take using several different methods to get all the elements removed. Even after these measures, there may still be elements that must be manually removed. Don’t click on that button. It’s not by any means the only measure you should take to keep from getting a computer infection. However, it is very important to know that no legitimate tech support company is going to contact you in the heat of an infection. It can be helpful to have a relationship with a technology support firm before you find out your situation is desperate. {company} is the trusted choice when it comes to staying ahead of the latest information technology tips, tricks, and news. Contact us at {phone} or send us an email at {email} for more information.

During the first half of 2016, an array of new types of malware has infiltrated computing devices across the globe. Anyone who has paid attention to digital security threats has heard of ransomware, a form of malware that freezes your computer until you pay a ransom to relinquish the hackers’ control. A new form of ransomware, known as “crypto-ransomware,” has spread through corporate America and beyond with surprising ease. This new version of the dreaded ransomware malware is only getting nastier as time progresses. Is 2016 the Year of Online Extortion? The numerous variants of ransomware and other malware have some industry experts touting 2016 as the year of the digital virus as well as the year of online extortion. The malevolent individuals behind these viruses are constantly working on new editions in an attempt to subvert anti-virus software and other virus prevention methods. These hackers are interested in more than merely causing computer chaos; a lucrative black market exists for new editions of malware. As we progress through the rest of the year and into the future, this black market will likely continue to expand. The interesting twist to ransomware is that it forces the computer owner to pay an exorbitant fee to regain control of his own machine, a form of online extortion that is a relatively new phenomenon. Those who fail to pay the ransom lose control of their computer as well as of all the sensitive data stored on it. The potentially massive financial losses prompt most ransomware victims to pony up the hackers’ requested fee. Crypto-Ransomware Is Evolving Crypto-ransomware is evolving from top to bottom. Cyber thieves are going to great lengths to customize the manner in which the ransomware attacks specific computers. They are personalizing many of the attacks to mess with the psychology of each particular victim. Many new versions of crypto-ransomware utilize scripts and macros, presenting seemingly professional web pages that are actually completely phony. Some are pressuring targets by altering a computer’s master boot record, crossing both platforms and networks. Even hackers who have favored other versions of malware in the past are hopping onto the ransomware bandwagon in an attempt to pressure targets into paying substantial amounts of money for a return to computing freedom. Ransomware Threats Worth Paying Attention To With the new year, a myriad of ransomware alterations have emerged from the crowded pack; of particular note is JIGSAW. This malware copies the targeted machine’s files, deletes all the originals and gradually destroys copies. KeRanger is the first-ever version of ransomware to successfully harm computers with Mac OS. PETYA completely overwrites a targeted computer’s master boot record, then locks out the user. MAKTUBLOCKER aims to gather private information from e-mail messages such as full names and addresses. The malware then uses this information to persuade the user into downloading the crypto-ransomware. PowerWare takes advantage of Windows PowerShell vulnerabilities. SAMAS / SAMSAM seeks out vulnerable Jboss servers and attacks them to encrypt network files. Perhaps the scariest of all the ransomware variants is CERBER. The evil geniuses behind this malware figured out how to include a verbal component that vocalizes the hackers’ demands for the payment of a ransom. How to Fight Back You can prevent ransomware attacks, but it won’t be easy. Lean on the expertise of a savvy IT support group, and you will greatly reduce the odds of a successful attack. You can use one of a number of ways to fight back, from backing up data to updating anti-virus protection and educating employees about this nasty malware. Regularly updating to the latest versions of operating systems and software is another excellent way to ward off ransomware attacks. {company} is the trusted choice when it comes to staying ahead of the latest information technology tips, tricks, and news. Contact us at {phone} or send us an email at {email} for more information.

Companies around the world are growing increasingly concerned that compromised employee credentials are resulting in damaging data breaches. A recent Cloud Security Alliance report has affirmed these suspicions. Digital security professionals across an array of industries were surveyed to determine the most common sources of data breaches. Compromised credentials turned out to be the top cause of business data theft. Those who responded to the survey also reported that compromised credentials will likely be the leading cause of data breaches across posterity. Data Breaches Are Becoming More Common Just under 20 percent of survey respondents report that their business experienced a data breach incident in the past. Of those afflicted, almost one-quarter of them report that the data breach resulted from compromised employee credentials. Survey responses turned even more negative when the questions turned toward what might be in store for the future. A whopping 65 percent of survey respondents stated that they believe there is a good chance their employer would suffer a future data breach as a result of stolen credentials. Security Challenges and Possible Solutions Survey respondents indicate that the most commonly used perimeter security tactic is antivirus software. All in all, 90 percent of respondents’ organizations used this anti-theft measure. Antivirus software was followed by e-mail spam filters and web application firewalls. Both of these security measures were used by over 80 percent of survey respondents’ employers. In terms of access controls for end users, a whopping 72 percent of survey respondents relied upon multi-factor authentication. The next most common access control for end users turned out to be SaaS and World Wide Web sign-on solutions. These access controls were used by 55 percent of survey respondents. Just over 50 percent of respondents reported that their employer relied upon sign-on solutions for enterprise applications. Key Takeaways Once all of the survey’s data is analyzed, it becomes abundantly clear that computer security systems tend to fail quite frequently as a result of stolen credentials. Compromised credentials can lead to the infiltration of even the most supposedly secure systems. The unfortunate truth is that businesses commonly fail in their attempts to limit access to in-house systems to pre-authorized users. The flaw with credentials is that the vast majority of organizations use the same passwords year after year. Too many business owners, managers and administrators fail to choose complex passwords. Furthermore, most employees do not change their passwords on a regular basis unless prompted by system protocols. Some people actually print out their passwords and tape them to the bottom of their keyboard, mouse, monitor or other cubicle equipment. Some even go as far as using the same passwords over and over across various services. Others are even willing to share their login credentials with co-workers. There is no longer any doubt as to whether passwords are appropriate for securing access to highly sensitive systems, network and data. Organizations should shift their focus to access control for improved organizational security. The implementation of a two-factor authentication process combined with single use passwords is a cost effective way of preventing inappropriate access to private data. Secure Your Company’s Sensitive Information With the Assistance of our IT Gurus {company} is the trusted choice when it comes to staying ahead of the latest information technology tips, tricks and news. Contact us at {phone} or send us an email at {email} for more information.

If you use Microsoft Office 365 products at work or at home, you should be aware of the software’s extensive vulnerability. The manner in which Microsoft Office 365 manages “federated identities” through Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) allows online hackers to infiltrate accounts, data, e-mail messages and files within the software’s cloud. Relying on the cloud for data storage is certainly en vogue, yet more and more stories are emerging regarding the cloud’s security weaknesses. The Microsoft Office 365 vulnerability is just the latest example of the problem with a total reliance on the cloud for information storage and retrieval. Though Microsoft responded to the security exploit with a January 5 mitigation, it is still abundantly clear that cloud storage is fallible. About SAML SAML is a standard employed by businesses and other entities to transfer authentication / authorization information. It permits a single sign-on across a number of different websites, allowing for greatly improved efficiency. Microsoft’s use of SAML version 2.0 in its Office 365 software is flawed in that it does not authenticate the element known as the NameID. As a result, the exchange takes place with other values for authentication. An example of such a value is an IDPEmail attribute. The Service Provider actually relied upon the Issuer of the Assertion yet did not perform “sanity checks” on the IDPEmail attribute value. As a result, it would easily consume assertions, under the impression that Identity Provider A had authenticated users of Identity Provider B. Details About the Attack The Office 365 SAML service provider implementation vulnerability was first discovered by Kakavas, a Research and Technology Network company based in Greece. The firm figured out that the software’s weakness permitted the bypassing of federated domains with cross-domain authentication. The expanse of this cyberattack has been quite vast. It encompasses Outlook Online, Skype for Business, OneDrive, OneNote and more. All in all, any Microsoft Office 365 product purchased by a company in terms of licensing is vulnerable. Malevolent individuals take advantage of the vulnerability in order to obtain access to uber-sensitive personal / corporate information. Corporate in-house documents, e-mails and more have been exposed to hackers. Organizations affected by the software’s vulnerability to domains configured as federated include Verizon, Vodafone and British Airways. Representatives from Kakavas report that the Office 365 flaw was surprisingly simple to exploit. The bug could have been present in the software since its release to the masses, or it could have transpired at any point in the meantime. In order to take advantage of the Office 365 weakness, a hacker merely needed a trial subscription to the software along with an installation of SAML 2.0 Identity Provider. An in-depth knowledge of SAML knowledge is not required to take advantage of the flaw. Once a SAML SSO is established with Office 365, the hacker is well on his way to infiltrating the user’s / company’s data. Hackers with extensive SAML knowledge have taken the hack to the next level by devising a tool that executes the attack automatically without requiring the SAML 2.0 Identity Provider. Yet the weakness is not strictly limited to individual sign-ons with SAML. Hackers have been able to execute the attack through Active Directory Federation Services as well. Our IT Service Can Protect Your Company’s Computer Hardware, Software and Networks {company} is the trusted choice when it comes to staying ahead of the latest information technology tips, tricks and news. Contact us at {phone} or send us an email at {email} for more information.

A recent data breach investigation conducted by Verizon reported that cybercriminals have been intentionally taking advantage of human nature. These cyberthieves prey on natural human tendencies with attack patterns like phishing and a heightened use of ransomware. The details of this cybersecurity information were presented in the company’s highly respected and widely read 2016 Data Breach Investigations Report. Details From This Year’s Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report The newest version of the Verizon data breach report shows a series of repeating themes that align with findings from previous years, yet the report specifically highlights the growing trend of cyberattacks that target computer users’ basic human nature. The report states that nearly 90 percent of attacks are the result of financial / spying motivations. The vast majority of these attacks take advantage of existing vulnerabilities that have yet to be patched. This is quite the unfortunate fact, since patches for these vulnerabilities have been available for months and even years. All in all, the leading 10 vulnerabilities represent 85 percent of all successful attacks. More than 60 percent of known data breaches took place because the users’ passwords were easy to figure out or flat-out stolen. The report makes it quite clear that basic computer and network defenses are insufficient in the majority of contemporary organizations. Phishing Is on the Upswing The report also states that phishing attacks have increased at an alarming rate over the course of the past year. This tactic involves sending an e-mail from a phony source with the hope that the computer operator will open the message and be exposed to its digital attack. According to Verizon, nearly one-third of all phishing e-mails were opened, representing a 7 percent increase from last year’s report. It is interesting to note that 13 percent of those who opened phishing messages also clicked the malware attachments or links. After all, everyone loves to receive a message, and it’s only human nature to open correspondence, regardless of its medium. The Human Element Is the Overriding Theme of Modern-Day Hacks Human nature and human errors are clearly responsible for a growing number of computer hacks. Sensitive information is often sent to the wrong person. Phishing e-mails are quite tempting to open as we all want to know what’s in that mysterious message sent to our in-boxes. The common theme of these cyber missteps is the fallibility of human nature. Sure, some amazing advances in cybersecurity solutions have taken place over the past few decades, yet these high-tech tools can’t guard against natural human tendencies. Today’s Three-Pronged Cyberattacks The Verizon report keys in on the dramatic increase in three-pronged cyberattacks. These attacks are becoming much more commonplace as time progresses. Every organization should be hyper-aware of this style of attack. It begins with the transmission of a phishing e-mail that contains a link to direct the recipient to a harmful website. Sometimes, the message includes an attachment with malware rather than a link. The malware is downloaded, searches for sensitive information on the user’s computer, steals it and uses any available credentials to log into other websites such as e-commerce stores or banking sites. It is especially concerning that these hackers can steal information in very little time. Verizon reports that 93 percent of cases take only a few minutes or less to breach a user’s computer and steal his data / login information, etc. Help Is Available to Protect Your Digital Data {company} is the trusted choice when it comes to staying ahead of the latest information technology tips, tricks and news. Contact us at {phone} or send us an email at {email} for more information.

There are too many ‘free’ anti-virus software packages out there nowadays. It always seems like such an amazing deal, right? Keep your computer and data protected for free! Why wouldn’t this be an awesome thing? If you do a bit of research on the ‘free’ anti-virus programs, some computer companies won’t even install them on their clients’ computers. This is because as always, there really is no such thing as free. So, why are these programs that are supposed to protect our computers not ‘free’? What makes them so bad? Let’s find out. PUPs PUPs doesn’t mean the furry little critters that you can go adopt at any shelter. Instead, it is the acronym for “Potentially Unwanted Programs.” This can be anything from toolbars for your browsers to driver updaters to optimizers for your registry and much more. There are quite a few problems with these things: They will ask you for money They can cause an awful lot of pop ups They will nag you to purchase something They will track you to try to sell to you They will slow your system down When looking at the eight top-rated free products when talking about anti-virus programs, an astonishing seven of them are bundled with PUPs. See, the vendors for the PUPs will pay the distributors of the software a small fee for each installation in order to get them bundled with the so-called ‘free’ anti-virus programs. They will then make even more money when they redirect you to their ‘safe’ search sites. Nagging Yet another thing to annoy you with these programs is that they will begin to nag you. Yes, even more than your mom did when it came to cleaning your room as a teenager. They are persistent with the nagging, too. After this has been going on for a while, it will start to feel like you can’t even go 10 minutes without them asking you to upgrade to their paid subscription. Some of them will even continue nagging after you purchase the paid version. They will want you to buy add-ins to optimize the paid version. This can take the form of “internet Security Suites’’ and any other type of product that you don’t need and certainly don’t want. They prey on users who will believe everything they read on the internet. They are the modern day version of snake oil or hair tonic salesmen. Privacy Take the time to actually read the privacy policy of one of these things and it might just scare you. Many of the free anti-virus programs collect all sorts of information about you…and what do they do with it once they have it? They collect: Information about your computer hardware Copies of your ‘potentially infected’ files Information about your email Information about possible infections Information about the websites that you visit Anything else they want to know If it is on your computer, they have access to it. Think about that for a moment. How do you feel about that? There are alternative solutions though. There is a program called Emsisoft Anti-Malware. This is software that is committed to not ever including any sort of PUPs. They also make your privacy a priority. You can get this as a one-year subscription or for longer. The bottom line is this: if you are looking at these programs and thinking about installing one, do your research first. Remember that if it looks too good to be true then it probably is.

If you own or manage a business, you have likely heard the term “information security compliance” before. Each organization has specific information security compliance duties that cannot be neglected. Let’s take a look at approaches to compliance, the importance of compliance and what happens when businesses ignore this obligation by performing what the IT industry has dubbed as “willful noncompliance”. Willful Noncompliance An organization that determines that abiding by regulatory compliance rules is not necessary will face negative repercussions. Though it might sound like a rare event, willful noncompliance is actually much more common than most assume. A surprising number of companies are willing to risk potential fines and hits to their reputation by bypassing these rules. These groups either view information security compliance as a massive hassle in terms of labor and logistics or they view it as too expensive. Sure, compliance is somewhat of a burden yet the failure to comply with existing laws and regulations has the potential to drastically reduce a business’s security and financial well-being due to hefty fines. There is No Standard Approach to Security and Compliance Obligations Those who are familiar with information security compliance efforts are quick to state that most organizations take their own idiosyncratic approach to this responsibility. Some play it completely by the book, documenting the organization’s compliance according to each provision of every nuanced regulation. Other companies have more of an informal approach to information security compliance by striving to stay within the boundaries of regulations. Such a loose approach is generally meant to comply with the spirit of regulations rather than the letter of the law. Other organizations use a unique combination of both of the approaches described above. Those who are experts in information security will testify that the majority of organizations perform a blend of these approaches in a concerted effort to keep their IT operations fully compliant with the law. Is Failure to Comply Really Worth It? The failure to adhere to information security standards is quite risky. It can result in a range of costly penalties from civil fines to prosecution in criminal court. The bottom line is that merchants that refuse to comply with the rules of PCI DSS will endure considerable financial penalties. In the worst case scenario, these non-compliant organizations will put their ability to engage in transactions involving credit cards at serious risk. Any individual or organization that is proven to have willfully breached HIPAA rules could face extensive jail time due to their inability to provide “due care.” The legal system labels such a failure to provide due care as “negligence.” In a nutshell, it is not prudent to neglect information security compliance. Just about every organization should view compliance as a requirement rather than a choice. In the end, the investment of money, time and effort in information security compliance is well worth it. Information Security Compliance Help is Available {company} is the trusted choice when it comes to staying ahead of the latest information technology tips, tricks, and news. Contact us at {phone} or send us an email at {email} for more information.

Originally released in October of 2001, Microsoft’s Windows XP quickly became one of the most popular operating systems in the history of personal computing. It featured a number of advancements over its predecessor from its completely redesigned and streamlined graphical user interface (GUI) to a number of features designed to bring businesses into the 21st century. It should come as no surprise that over a billion copies were estimated sold between 2001 and 2014 alone. Even though Microsoft has subsequently released numerous successors including the Windows Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 and Windows 10 operating systems, there are STILL millions of computers powered by Windows XP as of 2016. Make no mistake: this is very much cause for concern for a number of important reasons. Why Are People Still Using Windows XP? To simplify things as much as possible, there are two key reasons why millions of computer users – especially business users – still have computers with Windows XP in 2016. For starters, Windows XP was a legitimately groundbreaking operating system. It features an almost startlingly-intuitive user interface expanded multimedia capabilities and a deep level of hardware support that proved particularly valuable for business users. The second main reason, however is that XP’s successor Windows Vista received an incredibly poor reception early on. Despite the fact that Windows 7 and eventually Windows 10 were legitimate improvements, the damage had already been done. But rather than shell out huge amounts of money to switch to a competing platform like Mac OS X, business users in particular chose to just “stick with what they knew” and further entrenched themselves into the Windows XP ecosystem. To put this into a different perspective, there are more computers in the world running Windows XP than there are Windows 8.1 and all versions of Mac OS X combined. Why Is This a Problem? The fact that so many people are still using Windows XP is a problem for a very simple reason – Microsoft themselves has stopped supporting it. Mainstream support for the operating system ended in April 2009, meaning that home users would no longer be receiving updates. Extended support (an update track commonly employed by businesses) ended in April 2014. Updates are hugely important to an operating system, not just for fixing bugs and adding new features but also for addressing newly discovered security vulnerabilities. A company like Microsoft is in a never-ending security race. Whenever a hacker discovers a new vulnerability, Microsoft must work quickly to patch it. Hackers will then discover a new vulnerability that Microsoft will then close with this process continuing indefinitely. Because Windows XP is no longer supported and hasn’t received an update in years, this means that ALL newly discovered vulnerabilities are essentially permanent. Any computer running Windows XP in 2016 is essentially just waiting to be compromised. If that computer is connected to a business’ Intranet providing access to file servers containing confidential client information, you can begin to get an idea of just how big this issue really is. If you’re in {city} and you still have questions about why millions of people are still running Windows XP as an operating system, or if you’d just like to speak to a professional about how to best address your own business’ IT needs moving forward, please always feel free to call {phone} or email {email} to speak to someone at {company} today.

Microsoft has made its mark on the business world. It is one of the most essential computer programs used by businesses all over the world. Here are five ways Microsoft Excel is used in the workplace today. 5 Ways Microsoft Excel Is Used in the Workplace 1. Building Excellent Charts When you’re running a business, the ins and outs can be frustrating to explain, especially when you are making comparisons between companies and looking at results from one year to the next. A chart is one of the best ways to show your employees where the business stands in the mix. One way you can build excellent charts with Microsoft is by using formulas. When you are using formulas, you insert information into individual cells called rows and columns. You can sort, filter and create the columns any way you want to help with your presentation. Using formulas places emphasis on the points you are trying to make during your presentation. 2. The Best of Conditional Formatting Formatting a spreadsheet has never been easier with Microsoft Excel. Using conditional formatting — a variety of fonts, italics and bold emphasis on fonts, and different colors — is a great way to highlight important data and separate other instances to help you prove a point. With conditional formatting, users can compare values and lists and expose any duplicates. 3. Trend Identification When it comes to business, trend identification is essential, and to identify specific trends, you need charts and graphs. You can add lines to showcase key trends from the information you provide. One of the greatest perks of trend identification is that it provides the ability to make predictions for the future. When your business can make predictions of this nature, you can set your business up to handle upcoming changes. 4. Data Collection Microsoft Excel allows you to bring data together by putting different files and documents together. When you are collecting data, you can not only collect raw data, you can also include images and text. If you would like, you can add additional spreadsheets for the ultimate data collection to showcase and switch between tabs. 5. Access to the Internet Online access ties everything together. Employers and employees can view files and documents from more than one device, thanks to Microsoft’s Office 365 productivity suite. Information can be viewed from any PC, tablet, smartphone or laptop that is Internet capable. Microsoft Excel Tips One of the first things you want to do in Excel is to learn how to use pivot tables, including the report filter, column labels, row labels and value. The report filter allows you to single out rows in your data by filtering certain data. Column rows can be used as your database headers, and row labels can be used to insert data for specific headers. You can use value to average, count, min, sum and many other manipulations. It’s in your best interest to use more than one row and column, because it allows you to expand your data and include more information. Inserting information one by one is time-consuming and can be frustrating. Using filters is important, especially when you are working with data sets on a large scale. Filters help you find exact information without skimming the entire spreadsheet and wasting time. When you use Microsoft Excel, you are allowed to filter every column of data. These are a few Microsoft Excel tips and benefits of using the software. You can organize your business and become more productive than you ever imagined when you use Microsoft Excel in the workplace. {company} is the trusted choice when it comes to staying ahead of the latest information technology tips, tricks, and news with Microsoft Excel. Contact us at {phone} or send us an email at {email} for more information.