Chrome OS To Get App Multitasking Soon

January 14, 2018 by Joseph Martin

Chromebooks have brought Android apps to a much wider market, making them accessible to virtually everyone, but the Chrome OS has always lagged behind other platforms developmentally.

One of its most serious limitations where running apps was concerned centered on its inability to multitask. Basically, if the app you’re using is not “in focus” or in the window you’re currently viewing, all activity in the app ceases.

There are a few exceptions such as the Spotify app, but most apps that rely on real time data and most games will freeze when a user clicks out of the window. If you’re coming to Chromebook from almost any other platform, it can be annoying and hard to get used to.

Fortunately, you won’t have to deal with this for much longer. Google recently announced the release of Chrome OS 64, which will, among other things, allow apps to continue running in the background, even when you’re not using them in the active window.

Right now, the update is available on the company’s Beta channel, so it’s a fair bet that it will be rolled out to the general user base in the very near future. However, the company has not given a firm timeframe for that.

If you have a Chromebook, this is good news indeed as it corrects what many industry insiders have long seen as a glaring weakness of the platform.

While Chromebooks don’t get much use at the Enterprise level, they are a cost-effective computing option for students and low-income people, and it’s good to see Google spending time and resources improving them.

While the latest version offers a number of enhancements, the two biggest are the multitasking support mentioned above, and the “split view” feature which will further enhance the multitasking capabilities of the platform.

What is the Cost of IT Support for Small Business?

January 13, 2018 by Joseph Martin Leave a Comment

One of the greatest challenges among small business owners today is making the decision about IT support and maintenance of the information system; whether to hire an in-house IT tech or to outsource IT support for their business. With the relatively recent availability of Managed Services for small business, the list of choices – and decisions – has grown once again.

The Greenville IT support experts at Carolina IT Group are constantly searching for ways to make the decision making process simpler and easier for you, the small business owner. To help you with that, today we will take a look at the IT support choices currently available, as well as some of the costs involved. (Although we have tried to give you some idea of the costs involved, please remember that these are merely estimates based on averages, and that the actual cost of IT support services can vary greatly, based on the needs of each business.)

Self-managed IT Support:

According to PayScale.com, the national median income for an in-house IT tech is currently running at a bit over $40,000 per year, with the upper end of that range reaching nearly $60,000 annually. For more experienced technicians, the median pay rate is above $46,000 annually, with the upper range much closer to $65,000 yearly. These pay ranges include salary, bonuses, and profit sharing for in-house employees, but do not include benefits, such as health insurance.

If we choose a salary of $45,000 for the purpose of this comparison, we must then add benefits, sick pay, vacation time, and your annual payroll tax. These will total approximately $13,000 a year. Purchasing an IT Management System application could easily set you back by $1000, plus training in the new application, which would likely cost about $2500 per user. The total for one-time expenses will range from $3500 to $10,000, depending on the number of user desktops involved. Total cost of salary and benefits for your new IT specialist would be about $58,000 per year, though it could be more.

Outsourcing your IT Support:

For many small business owners, outsourcing their IT support needs may seem extravagant due to the hourly rate that such companies charge. However, this type of support can be extremely cost-effective because of the expertise being purchased, the experience the techs who visit are able to offer, and the backup provided by the team that supports them. Further, as a small business owner, you should easily be able to budget for the monthly expense, based on the system evaluation and recommendations of the company you employ as your IT support team.

A responsible IT support company will always begin with an objective assessment of your information system, along with recommendations for the work they will perform to meet your needs. In other words, they will not “pad” the bill, but will only perform the tasks you request of them. This can greatly reduce the cost of IT support for your small business, rather than hiring an in-house tech and paying an annual salary, as discussed above.

Beyond this, a reputable IT support company will guarantee the expertise of the tech they send you. The tech will also possess a great deal more experience than an employee, as they deal with a variety of systems every day. In most cases, there will be little they have not seen, which will allow them to handle your specific needs more efficiently. Further, they will most likely assign a particular technician to your account, someone who will visit you regularly, allowing them to become intimately familiar with your information system and the needs of your business, and with whom you will build a relationship of trust over time.

Best of all, your service will always be hands-on, with a live human being in place to answer your questions.

The cost of this type of support can vary greatly, depending upon the age and number of servers and desktops being used in your organization. However, you will usually be able to save money by purchasing blocks of time in advance and only using the hours purchased on as as-needed basis. For the average small business, you should probably budget for something between $1000 and $2500 per month, a vast savings over hiring an in-house IT tech.

Managed Services IT Support:

With remote monitoring of your small business information system now available 24/7, 365, this option has become one of the more cost-effective and appealing choices among small business owners in today’s marketplace. For a flat rate monthly fee, business owners and IT managers can now purchase pro-active monitoring and maintenance of servers, desktops, and remote machines being used by their company. In addition to this, a business may also subscribe to this type of service in a graduated, piecemeal fashion; perhaps beginning with managed antivirus protection, then gradually adding email monitoring for spam and continuity, email archiving, desktop monitoring, mobile device monitoring, online data backup services, and more.

By using such a service, your small business will find it very easy to budget for them. Because of the flat rate subscription fee you will pay each month, there will be no budget-busting surprises. As each of the managed services you’re using begins to save you money, by reducing system downtime and increasing productivity, you’ll be able to add another layer of protection, without having to invest in expensive an all-in-one package.

The most important benefit of a managed services program is that it is fully automated and never rests. The system is working on your behalf 24/7, 365, monitoring and maintaining your information system even while you sleep. You will also receive notification of impending problems, allowing you to intervene before your system goes down.

Once again, the cost of a managed services package for your small business will have a number of determining factors. Beginning with the age of your equipment and software, as well as the number of machines and users, to the selection of the various management and maintenance services to which you subscribe, these will determine the monthly cost of your choices. A la carte services may begin for as little as $2-$15 per month per machine, and range upward from there. For the average small business, your monthly cost may range from $500 to $2000 per month for ‘round-the-clock protection of your information system, data, and workstations. You should consult with an IT support provider for more information on a managed services package features and costs.

IT Support Service Packages

For most of our Greenville small business clients, a combination of outsourcing their IT support to us, along with one of our proactive managed services packages has been the ultimate solution to their IT needs. This type of cost-effective combination of support services has provided them expert IT support when needed on-site, as well as the 24 hour protection of their information system that they need for their peace of mind. “It’s good to sleep again at night!” they tell us.

If this information has been helpful, and you would like to know more about how Managed Services and IT support service packages from Carolina IT Group could benefit you and your business, the IT experts at Carolina IT Group are here to help you with all of your Greenville IT support needs. Please do not hesitate to contact us with your IT service request for help with your operating system, apps, servers, VoIP system or any other IT issues you may have.

Virus Spread Through Facebook Messenger Mines For Cryptocurrency

January 13, 2018 by Joseph Martin

Facebook scams are fairly common occurrences, owing to the sheer size of the platform’s user base. It’s no surprise that there’s a new one making the rounds that you should be aware of.

This latest threat was discovered by researchers at Trend Micro, and makes use of Facebook Messenger. If you get a message containing an embedded video file saved as a zip (the file name usually appears as “video_xxxx.zip”), don’t click on it, even if it’s from someone you know.

This file is a modified form of a legitimate piece of software called “XMRig”, an open source project that allows users to mine the cryptocurrency called Monero.

When the user clicks on this poisoned version, it will direct them to a website controlled by the hackers, in addition to quietly installing the corrupted software in the background. Once installed, the hackers put the infected PC’s processor to work for them, creating a distributed network of hash power to solve advanced cryptographic puzzles and generate new Monero “coins” for themselves.

The hackers have gone to some lengths to mask their true intentions. The site appears to be a video streaming service, and users who click on the embedded file will actually see a video playing. Of course, the website is also part of the C&C structure.

There are several intriguing things to note about this new threat:

It only affects people who use the Google Chrome web browser

It only affects PCs and Laptops. Smartphones are not impacted in any way

The miner software is actually controlled via the C&C server, meaning that the hackers can upgrade their malware, adding new functionality in the blink of an eye

So far, the virus has been spreading mostly in south east Asia, but has also begun appearing in the Ukraine and Venezuela. Given the global nature of Facebook’s user base, this is wholly unsurprising, so be on the lookout for it. Don’t click embedded files in Messenger, even if you think you know the sender.

Major Security Flaw Discovered In Intel Processors

January 12, 2018 by Joseph Martin

There’s some bad news if you own a computer driven by an Intel processor. Recently, a dangerous, catastrophic security flaw has been discovered in Intel’s X86-64 architecture that allows hackers to access the kernel, which sits at the heart of your OS. By accessing the kernel, a hacker can gain access to virtually everything on the targeted machine.

This is accomplished by way of a little-known feature called “speculative execution” which allows the processor to perform operations before it’s received definitive instructions that they need to be done. It’s a way of milking more speed out of the system.

Unfortunately, any such system runs the risk of giving programs permission to execute that, under normal circumstances, would not get permission. For example, a hacker could exploit this time-saving trick to force a piece of malware that Windows Defender (or related programs designed to safeguard your system) would otherwise catch and keep from running.

The truly terrifying part about this newly discovered exploit is its scope and scale. Intel chips are found in the majority of PCs and laptops being sold today, and this exploit has been sitting undiscovered until now, in every chip the company has made over the last ten years.

So far, Google researchers have identified two distinct attacks that could be used to exploit the flaw, dubbed “Meltdown” and “Spectre,” both being every bit as bad as they sound, and both capable of giving a hacker complete control over a target system. Fortunately, there have been no reported instances of either being used in the wild…yet.

The company is aware of the problem, and although they are playing things close to the vest, a fix is already in the works. Unfortunately, there’s a drawback. In order to implement the fix, it’s going to require a huge restructuring. This will likely eliminate the “speculative execution” feature, which is going to notably slow systems down. Early estimates are that when the fix is rolled out, you’ll see your system’s performance degraded by between 17-23%.

If there’s a silver lining in all this, if you happen to own a machine built around an AMD processor, give yourself a pat on the back. They don’t contain the flaw.

Older iPhones Are Being Purposefully Throttled, According To Apple

January 11, 2018 by Joseph Martin

Not long ago, observant Reddit users noted and began discussing a curious phenomenon. It appeared that older iPhones were unexpectedly slowing down, and no one could name the reason why.

It caught the attention of a number of security researchers who delved more deeply into the issue, including a man named John Poole, who confirmed the Reddit claims. His tests confirmed that on iPhone 6s and 7s, Apple made tweaks to iOS versions 10.2.1 through 11.2.0.

These changes are designed to throttle the phone’s performance when the battery degrades beyond a certain point. While the company itself has subsequently confirmed the findings, they didn’t offer much in the way of a detailed explanation other than to say:

“Our goal is to deliver the best experience for customers, which includes overall performance and prolonging the life of their devices. Lithium-ion batters become less capable of supplying peak current demands when in cold conditions, have a low battery charge or as they age over time, which can result in the device unexpectedly shutting down to protect its electronic components.

Last year we released a feature for iPhone 6, iPhone 6s and iPhone SE to smooth out the instantaneous peaks only when needed to prevent the device from unexpectedly shutting down during these conditions. We’ve now extended that feature to iPhone 7 with iOS 11.2, and plan to add support for other products in the future.”

If you have an older iPhone, you may find yourself in disagreement that throttling its performance optimizes your user experience, and admittedly, it isn’t an optimal solution. On the other hand, having your phone power down unexpectedly when the battery life still reads 40 percent can be worse than annoying.

The only way around it is to replace your battery, which will not trigger the throttle built into the OS.

Corporate Attacks On The Rise Through Vulnerable Printers

January 10, 2018 by Joseph Martin

Few things are more ubiquitous in an office environment than printers. Of course, these days, most printers are much more than simply that. They can also scan, copy and even send emails. As such, they’ve become an increasingly attractive option to hack, according to the latest data released by Barracuda Networks.

The reason is simple. Most printers aren’t as well protected as PCs and other devices on your network. They’re the weak point in your company’s defensive armor.

The upsurge in this type of attack seems to be focused on Cannon, HP and Epson printers, and works like this:

A printer is compromised and used to send spoofed scanned attachments, usually bearing an innocuous subject line such as “Scanned From HP,” “Scanned from Epson” or “Scanned from Cannon.”

Most employees don’t think twice about opening such attachments because they appear to be from a legitimate source inside the company, which is, of course, exactly what the hackers are counting on.

While any sort of payload can be delivered in this manner, the most common strain found installs a backdoor on the target PC, allowing the hackers to:

Monitor behavior and log keystrokes

Change computer settings

Copy files

Access other connected systems

And more.

In a clear indication that the malware could be used to launch a ransomware style attack, it also gives the hackers the ability to replace the PC’s wallpaper with any file they choose.

Employees should be more mindful of this type of attack and always double check to make sure the sender is valid. Also, it’s important to hover over the links embedded in such emails in order to be sure they’re valid before clicking on them.

If you haven’t been on the receiving end of an attack like this yet, count yourself lucky and stay vigilant.

2017 List Of Most Used Passwords Released

January 9, 2018 by Joseph Martin

SplashData has released their latest annual report on the most commonly used passwords. Unfortunately, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

By now, everyone knows that the number of hacking attempts and high-profile data breaches is on the rise. Everyone has heard, on more than one occasion, how important it is to not use the same password across multiple web properties, to enable two-factor authentication if and where it is offered and to use passwords that contain a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols in order to make them more difficult to crack.

Although these are things that everyone knows, the wisdom embedded in the advice above often goes unheeded. According to the data collected by aggregating passwords leaked in data breaches over the past year, the most commonly used password for 2017 is “123456,” followed closely by the ubiquitous “password.” These are unchanged from last year.

The rest of the top 25 list contains a mix of the old and the new, including:

12345678

Qwerty

12345

123456789

Letmein

1234567

Football

Iloveyou

Admin

Welcome

Monkey

Abel123

Starwars

123123

Dragon

Passw0rd

Master

Hello

Freedom

Whatever

Qazwsx

And Trustno1

If you make use of any of these passwords, we urge you to change them immediately. As important as data security is and as much as is at stake, you’re putting yourself, your friends and your co-workers at grave risk by using such easily cracked passwords.

SplashData’s CEO Morgan Slain had this to say on the topic:

“Unfortunately, while the newest episode may be a fantastic addition to the Star Wars franchise, ‘starwars’ is a dangerous password to use. Hackers are using common terms from pop culture and sports to break into accounts online because they know how many people are using those easy-to-remember words.”

Simple Ways to Go Green and Save Green!

January 8, 2018 by Joseph Martin

How Green is Your Business?

In today’s world, everyone is making a stronger effort to recycle and save, both individually and on a business level. The great thing about “Going Green” is that it doesn’t just benefit the environment, but it can also benefit the bottom line for your business. Here are some easy ways your business can go green:

Tune-Up Your Technology

The great thing about computers and technology these days isn’t just their speed and capabilities, but also their power efficiency. Updating your work stations with new technology will not only save you on your utility bill, but it can also save you in the long run on maintenance and updating for your older systems!

Trade in the Paper for Digital Filing

Digital document management systems have come a long way, as well as the benefits they can offer your company when it comes to efficiency and security. Cloud system services and secure servers not only eliminate the cost and waste of paper and ink, but they also offer a faster filing system that is also easier to navigate for employees. Digitally organizing your documents with these services also cuts down on the threat of your files being lost or stolen.

Bring the Office Home

Many businesses are using the abilities of cloud solutions to work remotely from home. This cuts down on several costs and environmental hazards. Along with saving on gas and travel time, this also helps eliminate vehicle emissions. On top of that, companies save a ton of money when it comes to rent, overhead and utilities to operate an office.

Apple Might Be Working On Universal Apps Across Mac, iOS

January 7, 2018 by Joseph Martin

Apple has been quietly working on something called “Project Marzipan” for a couple of years now, and it appears that they’re getting closer to unveiling it.

The company seeks to bring its MacOS and iOS platforms closer together by developing universal apps that will work in either environment. This mirrors Microsoft’s Universal Windows app strategy, where apps can detect the environment they’re running on and adjust their display and navigation accordingly.

Project Marzipan presents some real challenges for Apple because MacOS programs use an entirely different set of development tools, although there is some overlap. The programming language called Swift, for example, can be used to make apps that run in either environment and if the company placed a greater emphasis on it, the process of creating their own universal apps would be greatly simplified.

The thinking behind Marzipan seems to be driven by the company’s desire to breathe new life into the Mac App Store, which hasn’t seen nearly the level of success as their iOS Store. The move would be a boon to developers because creating a common platform would allow Mac app developers to get their product in front of more potential customers.

Another potential reason is that the company may be planning to ultimately merge MacOS and iOS into a singular operating system that runs every Apple product. It’s a compelling theory, but the company has said nothing to confirm it.

In any event, if Apple goes ahead with Marzipan, and at this point, all indications are that they will, then we can expect a public announcement to that effect at next year’s World Wide Developer Conference. The first of the universal apps should appear not long after that, although the process of merging the two app stores and building out a robust collection of universal apps could take more than a year.

Windows 10 Third Party Password Manager Could Have Security Issue

January 6, 2018 by Joseph Martin

Do you use “Keeper?” If you’re not sure what it is, then you probably don’t. It’s a password manager that Microsoft has been bundling with some of its Windows 10 releases. Either way, there’s a serious flaw in its design that you should be aware of.

Earlier in the year, Tavis Ormandy, a researcher on Google’s Project Zero team, discovered a bug that saw Keeper injecting privileged user information into web pages, exposing all manner of private data unnecessarily to website owners.

The potential damage comes from a user being lured onto a hacker-controlled website, whose owner could siphon up the information (including literally every password stored by Keeper) and resell it, or use it to launch a highly targeted attack against a specific user or device.

The bug was reported, and a patch was issued. Then, in a later version, Ormandy found the same bug cropping up again. He had this to say about the matter:

“I’ve heard of Keeper, I remember filing a bug a while ago about how they were injecting privileged UI into pages. I checked and, they’re doing the same thing again with this version.

I think I’m being generous considering this a new issue that qualifies for a ninety-day disclosure, as I literally just changed the selectors and the same attack works. Nevertheless, this is a complete compromise of Keeper security, allowing any website to steal any password.”

Craig Lurey, the CTO of Keeper Security, had this to say when informed of the bug:

“This potential vulnerability requires a Keeper user to be lured to a malicious website while logged into the browser extension, and then fakes user input by using a ‘clickjacking’ technique to execute privileged code within the browser extension.”

The two important takeaways here are as follows:

The company reports that so far as anyone can tell, this flaw has not actually been exploited in the wild.

Keeper Security has issued an emergency patch that has disabled the “Add to Existing” feature, which is where the problem code actually resides.

This temporary measure was implemented as a stop-gap until the bug can be properly patched.

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