Blog – Page 39

Hang Up The Landline for VoIP

January 29, 2018 by Joseph Martin

Considering the switch to a VoIP phone system? Not sure what advantages it will give you over a traditional land-line? Well, You’re not alone. A large number of business owners are making the switch from land-lines to VoIP phone systems for their business.

Don’t Break the Bank

What’s the number one reason for switching to a VoIP phone system? Cost! VoIP systems are surefire way to reduce the costs of phone services, especially if you are operating a business that has a large number of long distance or international calls for business purposes.

Keep Your Local Digits

There was a time when VoIP phone systems didn’t guarantee that you would be able to have a local phone number. That time has come and gone. There are numerous services now available that allow you to not just enjoy the cost friendly services of VoIP, but also allow you to keep a local phone number for it.

The Phone Will Ring No Matter Where You Are

VoIP also allows you the advantage of taking your phone service with you anywhere. When you leave the office, you calls and messages don’t have to stay behind. VoIP allows your IP phone to travel with you when you are traveling for business meetings, sales meetings or even vacation, although we don’t recommend taking too many calls during that last one.

Why Your Company Needs An Internet Use Policy

January 29, 2018 by Joseph Martin Leave a Comment

With computers and Internet access such an integral part of every business, and the Internet filled with everything from gambling to x-rated websites, it is critical that every business has an Internet use policy in place. This policy can help prevent your employees from accidentally or intentionally causing harm to your company or your company’s reputation. While you don’t want to give your employees the idea that they are living in George Orwell’s 1984, you want them to have a clear understanding of practices that are and are not appropriate during work hours. It is necessary for companies to create an Internet policy that everyone can live with.

Why Have An Internet Policy?

The purpose of a business is to make money. In order to accomplish this, the company has to have productive employees. The Internet can be a time drain and often prevent employees from being as productive as they should be. With such a wide range of information available on the Internet, it is necessary to clarify the company’s expectations of its employees regarding Internet access. With a strong policy in place, the employee, as well as the employer, will find Internet use less confusing and frustrating.

Another important reason to have a strong Internet policy is to save your company from unnecessary lawsuits. Unless you have a clear policy on what is and is not acceptable on the Internet in your company, you can risk having an unfair dismissal lawsuit on your hands when an employee is abusing the company’s Internet.

What Elements Should Your Internet Usage Policy Contain?

When planning your Internet use policy, it should contain certain key elements such as:

The company Internet is for company business only and to be used only during company business hours
All work done on company computers during business hours, including all emails, is company property and can be accessed by the employer at any time.
Establish what type of computer use is unacceptable such as accessing personal social media accounts, personal email, pornographic websites, etc.
Employees must refrain from accessing websites, creating, or forwarding email that promotes any type of discrimination such as racial or sexual discrimination, or that is defamatory or harmful towards another person or group.
Employees are not allowed to gain access to or attempt to access other employee’s computers, employee stored information, or any information unauthorized by the company.

In addition to the guidelines above, inform your employees that whatever is done by the company, for the company, and on the company computers should remain confidential and within the confines of the company. In addition, let employees know that when they access unapproved sites, they risk infecting the company computer system with viruses that could possibly shut down the entire company network.

Having an Internet use policy in place helps to eliminate any confusion and possible abuse that could prevent a company from functioning productively. A solid Internet use policy help to make the work environment more pleasant and more conducive to getting the necessary work done in order to have a successful business. Creating a safe and productive environment is important for any business, and one way to ensure that is to implement an Internet use policy.

5 Keys to Building a Better Team at Work

January 29, 2018 by Joseph Martin

One of the biggest challenges for any entrepreneur or business person is what Gino Wickman; author of the book Traction, calls “Letting go of the vine.” This simply means to trust those around you more and put responsibilities on others. There is a very important step before this is prudent, and that is to surround yourself with people who have a love for the “vine” and a clear understanding of how the “vine” operates. Ultimately, a team who is worthy of the “vine“. The challenge of building this team falls squarely on the entrepreneur or business person shoulders.

So how do you get a team of people assembled that are ready to allow you to let go of this precious “vine“? I have learned much over the last 16 years by creating and operating multiple multi-million dollar businesses along the Mississippi, Alabama and Florida Eastern NC. In reality, most of what I have learned is through failure and the relentless pursuit of excellence. It is very strange how the pursuit of excellence and failure go hand-in-hand, but this is one of the immutable laws that God has put in place that mankind cannot seem to thwart.

Although the aforementioned statement is explicitly true we are able to obtain more excellence and suffer less failure through the study of other people’s successes and failures. Below are six items that I believe can help any entrepreneur or business person in putting together a team worthy of caring for your “vine“.

Getting Rid of What Does Not Belong. One of the toughest challenges is to believe in your gut what is right and then to act upon it swiftly. As it relates to people, this is of utmost importance. What I have found is that A Players want to work with other A Players. B Players want to work with C Players and it goes down from there. These underperformers are very easy to spot and caustic to the organization. They are the ones that don’t like accountability, they are very inconsistent and don’t like to be responsible for anything. You instinctively know who your weak players are and you know which one are never going to change no matter how much coaching you give them. Once this decision has been made, the only option is to get that player off the team. The faster the better for your sake, your client’s sake and the overall company’s sake.
Setting Great Key Performance Metrics. Key Performance Metrics is simply looking at your business and determining what are some things that you can measure and can be reported on that will have a great impact in getting you closer to excellence. We all know that anything measured improves and that which is also reported on improves exponentially. Not to beat a dead horse, but the ones on your team that are most resistant to measurement are usually going to be your B and C or below players. The trick here is to really spend some time asking yourself questions about the fewest number of things you could measure and gain the greatest impact. If you ask better questions you will get better answers. Write the questions out! The answers will follow.
Define Clear SMART Goals. After arriving at your companies KPI’s set some specific, measurable, assignable, realistic and time bound goals. The best way to do that is to get buy-in from the team so that everyone has a clear understanding of who is responsible for what. One of the biggest areas of failure comes from a misunderstanding of responsibilities. Without assigning responsibilities it is difficult to determine why things fail to work and goals are not met. It is important to meet regularly and measure the progress and not be afraid to deal with people who are irresponsible with their duties.
Define the Win. I believe that most business owners truly love the work and they can actually forget to define what a win looks like. The thing to remember here is that when you are working a team of people that don’t have the full vision that you might have you have to define the win. It is equally important for the win to be a true win and not something that does not move the organization towards excellence. It is a fallacy to believe that everyone is a winner. The reality is that people who are disciplined and fulfill their responsibilities are the winners and they need to be rewarded. The others need to be reminded and coached to be winners. If this is done consistently, the non-winners will not want to stay on the team.
Celebrating a Win. A great win deserves a great celebration. If you have put together the right team, set the correct KPI’s, defined SMART goals and defined the win properly you should celebrate largely. Your team deserves it and so do you. It is very important that we refuel ourselves so that we are able to persevere. A great business career is a marathon – not a sprint!

As a leader and entrepreneur it is of utmost importance to realize that in order to grow our companies we have to ultimately grow ourselves and grow those around us.

Protect Yourself and Your Business Against Identity Theft

January 29, 2018 by Joseph Martin

Identity theft can happen to anyone, at any time. It is a common crime in today’s hyper-technology world. Hackers are coming up with new ways to steal your information at a rapid pace. You could be the average Joe on the street who accidentally gives your credit card information to a cloned PayPal, or someone steals your driver license’s number and applies for credit cards under your name.

Identity theft has become much more prevalent in the world than many would guess. Approximately 10 MILLION Americans become a target of some form of identity theft. If that number isn’t enough to make you uneasy then I don’t know what is. But not only does identity theft happen to individuals, it can happen to businesses that are not secure online. They can steal your business’s money, goods, information or any other assets.

Some common forms of identity theft are:

Financial Fraud: This is the most numerous fraud. Financial fraud includes stealing your identity to purchase or sell expensive items, steal your tax refunds, withhold portions of checks cashed, and simply steal your money to use in various ways. There are about 20 different financial fraud types that result in stealing your money.

Criminal Activities: This is where someone steals your identity to perform criminal activities under your name.

Cybercrimes: Many sophisticated phishing scams happen through the internet. Sometimes the perpetrator is right under your nose, such as an employee or caregiver. These hackers can access employee records, steal company mail (bank statements, tax documents, new checks), and gain authorized access to credit reports.

That’s why keeping a secure and protected office is extremely important. Hiring an IT company to make sure your files are safe is one way to help your business stays protected.

Other types of identity theft:

Organized Crime
Drug Trafficking
Alien Smuggling
Money Laundering

The main types of theft you should look out for though is financial and cybercrimes. Cybercrimes are numerous and many are designed to look identical to a regularly-used website or email from a known website.

For example, you go to a website you use to pay a monthly statement, instead of taking you to the official website, a hacker can redirect you to a malicious site that looks identical to the official one. Without knowing you make your payment on a website that is designed solely to steal your money and credit card number.

So, now that you have a better understanding of the different ways your identity can be stolen, what measures can you use to prevent fraud?

For starters, make sure you recognize a real website from a fraudulent one. Look to the URL link. If it has an “https” at the beginning that usually means it is a safe site. If it has just “http” at the beginning, that is deemed as an unprotected website.

For a business, many criminals prey on small businesses who do not have secure servers or protected files. But even protected businesses can be affected by cybercrime. As mentioned previously, insider computer crime can happen. Disgruntled employees who think they may be laid-off, or are not financially stable may commit identity theft to protect themselves.

Phishing scams, adware, spyware and other viruses are a form of malware that can be used to access private records.

For a business, downloading an anti-virus software is the first step. Keeping your systems up-to-date and regularly checking its status can alert you to any updates your anti-virus software has made that you need to implement.

Never give your individual or business information to companies you don’t know are legitimate. Many official websites will also have a lock icon at the bottom right corner of the page letting you know the site is secure. Do not make payments to any website that do not have the “https” URL and a lock icon on the page.

Make sure you shred all paper invoices, bills, receipts, statements or other mail that contains private information.

Never open emails from domains or usernames you do not recognize. Many mail applications will alert you if the mail looks like spam. Never reply to emails that are alerting you to verify your account information because your account is being suspended, closed, or charged.

Discussing these issues with your employees. By educating everyone in your business about the different forms of fraud and how to avoid them, this can prevent many types of identity theft.

Also, check your bank accounts for any activity that seems suspicious. Use a credit card for payments online instead of a debit card, because most credit card company offer a zero liability policy, meaning you will not be charged for fraudulent spending. Regularly check your credit score too- if it drops without reason that means there can be a hacker using a credit card in you or your business’ name.

Tips to Sink ATM Skimming

January 29, 2018 by Joseph Martin

Today’s world is far from the wild west, but bank robbers are still rampant and constantly after your money. The only difference is there tactics are far more technologically advanced. Criminals gain access to your bank account via ATM machines and some sneaky skimming of your money. These criminals use a combination of advanced card readers attached to the machine to capture your card information and small hidden cameras to snag your pin number. These cyber criminals then sell your information to third parties who copy your card and drain your account. This billion dollar bank robbing business is growing every year.

To help you protect your pin, card and money, here are a few tips to blank the cyber bank robbers:

Slight of Hand – Always make sure to cover the number pad with you hand when entering your pin. When it comes to breaking into your bank account, the cyber criminals will have no luck with no number.
Attention to Detail – Scope out the ATM before using it. Does anything look out of place or like it doesn’t belong? If there seems to be an “extra” piece of machinery, see if you can remove it. Because it most likely doesn’t belong. If there is excessive signage, mirrors or other “attachments” on the machine, then just avoid it completely.
Watch Your Back – This is an ATM tip that has been around as long as the machines themselves have, and it still applies. Do you best to avoid an ATM that is located in an isolated location, or an area with poor lighting. And if you find yourself in that situation, keep alert of your surroundings.
Don’t Stall to Make the Call – If an ATM looks like it could be a threat, or that criminals have possibly tampered with it, then let the necessary officials know. Don’t hesitate to notify the bank and law enforcement officials right away.

Do Not Use These Chrome Extensions

January 28, 2018 by Joseph Martin

Do you use any of the following Chrome browser extensions?

Change HTTP Request Header

Nyoogle – (a custom logo for Google)

Stickies – (a Post-It note for Chrome)

Lite Bookmarks

If so, you’re not alone. These four extensions have a combined user base of more than half a million.

Recently, security researchers from ICEBRG (a US cyber-security company) have discovered malicious codes embedded in copies of these on the official Chrome Web Store. The code allows hackers to manipulate the users’ browser via JavaScript.

So far, the hackers have only contented themselves with relatively tame activities like loading and displaying ads, clicking on ads, and loading malicious web pages in the background. However, the potential exists to do much more than this.

Since ICEBRG informed Google, the company has removed three of the four plugins from the Web Store. As of this moment, only Nyoogle remains, though the expectation is that it will be removed in short order as well.

While all four extensions utilize the same basic techniques, and do many of the same things, it is not clear if all four were created by the same group, although this seems likely.

Since the extensions have now been (mostly) removed, the rate of infection will slow. Of course, if you’ve already downloaded and installed one of these four, then you are going to continue to be impacted.

The extensions are easy to uninstall, and if you’re using one of them, that is the recommended course of action.

In recent months, Google has taken steps to make their auditing process more robust to prevent malicious extensions and apps from finding their way onto the web properties they manage. As this latest incident proves, no matter how careful a company is, sooner or later something is going to slip through.

Backdoor In Certain Lenovo Switches Discovered

January 27, 2018 by Joseph Martin

Does your company utilize either RackSwitch or BladeCenter networking switches? Are those switches running ENOS (the Enterprise Network Operating System)? If so, there’s a backdoor in your network you weren’t aware of. Even worse, it’s been there since 2004.

Engineers at Lenovo recently discovered the backdoor in the firmware when they conducted an internal security audit. These products were added to the company’s portfolio via acquisition from Nortel, and Lenovo only just became aware of their existence.

A spokesman for the company had this to say: “The existence of mechanisms that bypass authentication or authorization are unacceptable to Lenovo and do not follow Lenovo product security or industry practices. Lenovo has removed this mechanism from the ENOS source code and has released updated firmware for affected products.”

Updates are available on Lenovo’s website, and links to the updates are available inside the company’s security advisory on this topic.

It should be noted that this backdoor would be relatively difficult for a would-be hacker to exploit, because it’s not a hidden account whose password could be guessed at or cracked via brute force, but rather an authentication bypass mechanism that requires a strict set of conditions to trigger. Lenovo describes the various configurations of security settings that activate the backdoor in their security advisory.

In any case, the presence of a backdoor into your network (even one that’s hard to trigger and access) isn’t something to be taken lightly. If you’re able, grab the firmware updates from Lenovo at your next opportunity and seal the breach. If that is impractical for some reason, Lenovo has spelled out a few mitigation strategies your company can apply as a stop gap, until you can get the firmware updates in place.

Kudos to Lenovo from their swift, deft handling of the issue!

Vulnerabilities Found In Some GPS Services

January 26, 2018 by Joseph Martin

A duo of researchers stumbled across a series of vulnerabilities in literally hundreds of GPS services that leave sensitive GPS tracking data open to hackers. Dubbed “Trackmageddon” by the researchers, the vulnerabilities span a range of weaknesses that include default or easy-to-guess passwords, IDOR (Insecure Direct Object Reference) issues, insecure API endpoints, and data collection folders that are entirely unsecured.

The reason so many different tracking services are impacted is that most of them rely on the same online software to deliver their services, and that software (believed to be designed by ThinkRace, one of the largest vendors of GPS tracking devices) itself is flawed. As more and more companies license it, the issues spread, exposing the data of an increasing number of customers who are entirely in the dark about how vulnerable their location data is.

The researchers have made attempts to contact the vendors offering GPS tracking services with vulnerabilities, but so far, have met with only limited success. According to their report:

“We tried to give the vendors enough time to fix (also respond for that matter) while we weighed this against the current immediate risk of the users.

We understand that only a vendor fix can remove a user’s location history (and any other stored user data for that matter) from the still affected services, but we (and I personally because my data is also on one of those sites) judge the risk of these vulnerabilities being exploited against live location tracking devices, much higher than the risk of historic data being exposed.”

As to the types of data being exposed, it includes: GPS coordinates, phone numbers, IMEI numbers, device information, and depending on which online service is being used, a hacker could even gain access to audio, video, and photos uploaded by the device being used.

While extremely convenient, these services do carry significant risks. Use them at your own risk.

Electronic Device Search Rules Better Defined By US Customs

January 25, 2018 by Joseph Martin

There’s a constant tug of war playing out on the national stage. On one side, privacy advocates are pushing for greater autonomy for end users, and hard limits to the types of searches that law enforcement agencies are allowed to conduct.

On the other side are the government agencies themselves, which often cite national security concerns as the justification for more and easier access to the sensitive data contained on personal devices like laptops and smartphones.

Generally speaking, the privacy advocates lose those battles. This was the case recently, when the CBP (the US Customs and Border Protection agency) published their latest electronic search guidelines. The most significant change is that the new guidelines explicitly define the difference between basic and advanced searches.

CBP agents are authorized to choose any travel, with or without cause or suspicion, for basic searches. Under the clarified rules, a basic search is limited to an examination of data found on the device itself, which is accessible through already installed apps, or through the device’s OS.

Advanced searches may be conducted, but agents must demonstrate that there’s a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity, or that the person carrying the device represents a “national security concern.”

The individual singled out for an advanced search may be permitted to be present while the search is conducted, but are not permitted to view the actual search itself for fear of revealing law enforcement techniques. Of significance, even during the conduct of an advanced search, agents are not permitted to search cloud-based data. They are restricted to data stored on the device itself.

While none of this sounds especially heavy-handed, the biggest complaint privacy advocates have about the updated rules is the fact that border agents can, at their own discretion, still carry out warrantless searches without any judicial oversight whatsoever.

Although this may not impact you directly, it pays to be mindful of the recent changes.

New Wifi Standard WPA3 May Be Coming

January 24, 2018 by Joseph Martin

Remember the KRACK WiFi (WPA2) vulnerability, discovered by Mathy Vanhoef? It turns out that his discovery was a catalyst for action. Recently, the WiFi Alliance, which is the industry’s standards organization, released details about its new WPA3 protocol.

Here’s a quick rundown of the changes you can expect to see in the months ahead:

Enhancements in encryption capabilities – The new protocol will enable encrypted connections between connected devices and the router/access point, and the cryptographic standard has been improved. According to the WiFi Alliance, it will be “a 192-bit security suite, aligned with the Commercial National Security Algorithm (CNSA) Suite from the Committee on National Security Systems, which will further protect Wi-Fi networks with higher security requirements such as government, defense, and industrial.”

The ability to configure one WiFi enabled device to configure other devices on the network – As an example, you’ll now be able to configure a network-connected smart device that doesn’t have a display screen from your smartphone or PC connected to the same network.

More protection – In addition to offering more robust encryption, the new standard will also offer enhanced protection against brute force attacks by halting the WiFi authentication process after some number of failed login attempts. This mirrors the functionality found on many web-based authentication systems.

All of these are welcome changes indeed, but despite relatively quick action on the part of the WiFi Alliance, it will still be several months before consumers are able to purchase devices that offer WPA3 support.

Mathy Vanhoef, the researcher who brought the KRACK attack to the world’s attention, had this to say about the recent announcement:

“The standards behind WPA3 already existed for a while, but now, devices are required to support them. Otherwise, they won’t receive the WPA3-Certified label. Linux’s open source Wi-Fi client and access point already support the improved handshake, it just isn’t used in practice. But hopefully, that will change now.”

This is good news indeed, and will help make wireless networks more secure. Kudos to Mathy Vanhoef for his discovery, and for spurring the industry into action.

Hang Up The Landline for VoIP

Don’t Break the Bank

Keep Your Local Digits

The Phone Will Ring No Matter Where You Are

Why Your Company Needs An Internet Use Policy

5 Keys to Building a Better Team at Work

Protect Yourself and Your Business Against Identity Theft

Tips to Sink ATM Skimming

Do Not Use These Chrome Extensions

Backdoor In Certain Lenovo Switches Discovered

Vulnerabilities Found In Some GPS Services

Electronic Device Search Rules Better Defined By US Customs

New Wifi Standard WPA3 May Be Coming

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