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Blog posts tagged with 'security'

How can you securely communicate by email?

If you find yourself searching for a solution to pass credentials or other confidential information between you and another party, look into Sendinc.

 

Free account, encryption, MS Outlook Add-In, terrific option for sending secure email!

 

https://www.sendinc.com/

 

Sendinc - Secure Email

 

 

 - Hightown Hill

Matthew 5:14

The best prevention to phishing, and getting caught

The best prevention to being caught by phishing: Never follow (click) a link from an email to login to an account. Use your browser to navigate to the website and login. Stay secure.
https://zd.net/2Rip8ny

Test yourself with the Phishing IQ test:
http://bit.ly/2tGReQo

What does phishing look like from CompTIA:
http://bit.ly/38zosQD

 Confidential Information

Beware, not all web hosting is equal.

Beware, not all web hosting is equal

There are many web hosting options available. All seem to offer the same or similar features, but in reality, it's not the same level of service.

If you need help managing your web hosting, configuring your website or looking to migrate to another hosting provider, allow us to tackle the technical aspects of your business so you can get back to work!

Recently, a client was affected by a ransomware attack on a major web host which crippled over 400,000 websites. While in the process of restoring the client's site, we were tasked with reviewing and providing a list of alternative hosting providers. Needless to say, not all hosting providers are the same, even when they seem to offer the same services and features. Your intellectual property, users and customers private information is at stake. Instead of a lengthy list of mediocre, confusing and shady web hosts, we have narrowed down those hosts we personally have dealt with which had the best security, reliability, prices, features, ease of use, and support(customer service).

IONOS

  • Currently $1 domain registrations, free private registration and SSL cert. You can't beat that!
  • Web Hosting promo starting at $1 per month (typically around $4) with free SSL.
  • 30-year history and ISO 27001 certified data centers.
  • Customer service is responsive and helpful.
  • You can host nearly anything built for Windows or Linux. With a few caveats, see below…

HostGator

  • Web Hosting starting at around $3 per month with free SSL.
  • cPanel and Plesk Hosting Control Panels means simple and documented management. Good for users of all skill levels.
  • Friendly and knowledgeable customer service.
  • Again, you can host nearly anything built for Windows or Linux, with some exceptions…

Microsoft Azure

  • Microsoft Azure costs can be managed in various ways. Keep in mind you pay for what you use.
  • Nearly anything can be hosted.
  • Security and complete control over nearly all aspects of the hosting environment.
  • A great solution for e-commerce sites and other websites where security is paramount.
  • Azure typically will require management by a knowledgeable party.

Now for those exceptions, our particular client required Windows hosting for the shopping cart platform AspDotNetStorefront. Due to the platforms technical requirements, IONOS, HostGator and a handful of other hosts, could not support the latest release of AspDotNetStorefront due to their internal hosting configurations at the present time. For those searching for hosting for AspDotNetStorefront, your best bet is to host with Vortx (Parent company). Vortx has developed the fully featured, secure shopping cart platform AspDotNetStorefront, and they know how it runs best! A couple other viable hosting options would be a Microsoft Azure Virtual Machine, IONOS or HostGator Virtual Private Servers.

When you have hosting questions, please drop us line, we'd love to chat!

Enhancing security with your guest network

Your Guest Wi-Fi Network(available on most routers) has additional uses besides temporary internet access.

By separating Wi-Fi access on your network with the Guest Network SSID and separate WPA2 passphrase, you can protect your normal Wi-Fi passphrase from being discovered. Additionally, you should restrict the Guest Network so that it doesn't have access to your local network. This reduces the possibility of discovering and compromising the other devices (the important ones) on your local network.

We suggest placing all IoT devices(when possible) on your Guest Network if you are not required to access them by IP address, that is when they are accessible through the internet via an app. Devices like SONOS speakers which require connecting to the local IP address must be connected to the same local network as your handheld device or tablet. Ring and similar devices can be placed on the Guest Network since they require an internet connection and are accessible through the internet via the app on your handheld device or tablet.

If you need help determining if this is feasible with your specific IoT device, please leave a comment with the device Mfg. and model number.

IoT Network Diagram

To update or not to update? On mobile there is no question...

There are instances when updating production servers, dev machines and other business critical resources which have unintended results like discovering a new issue arose from the update itself. At times these updates must be put off and patched later.

Most end user devices, laptops and computers don't suffer from the same pitfalls of updating business critical software and hardware and should be updated immediately especially when it comes to security. 

If you are an Android user, don't wait to update! However, the same is true for any mobile OS. Take the time to install updates.

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveywinder/2019/12/07/google-confirms-critical-android-8-9-and-10-permanent-denial-of-service-threat/#2daf473f66fe