Blog
Secure Email
January 12, 2010
Many of our clients want to know if they need to encrypt their email messages and, if so, how to do it. Much of the sudden interest in email encryption is due to the recent adoption of regulations regarding consumer privacy and the protection of consumer data. The intent of these regulations is to place some of the responsibility on businesses for the growing and incredibly serious problem of identity theft.
If your business handles data your employees or customers would want to be kept private, or information that could be used in identity theft, you bear some responsibility for its safekeeping. Your responsibility continues even when transmitting this information from one computer to another, and that's where email encryption comes in.
Since email goes over the public Internet, it's possible for it to be intercepted and the information used for the purpose of identity theft. If you're sending social security numbers, account numbers, credit card numbers, health insurance information, etc., via email, it must be encrypted so only the intended recipient can read it. (Personally, I recommend against sending this type of information via email if you can avoid it.)
Email can be encrypted by using a dedicated appliance or special software that is installed at both the sender and the recipient computers. Hardware appliances are expensive and complicated to maintain, and encryption software has the disadvantage of having to be installed on the computer of every recipient.
Most small businesses opt to use a secure email service such as those offered by providers such as Microsoft and Postini. With these services, when the email contains confidential data, the sender puts a keyword (that you specify ahead of time) in the subject line such as "SECURE" or "CONFIDENTIAL". All outbound email is automatically encrypted and relayed through the provider. The computers at the provider recognize the keyword and email a link to the message recipient. The link takes the recipient to a secure web page, where they log in with a username and password that you provide so they can read the message.
The cost for secure email services are approximately $50 per year per user.
NetEffect Moves to a New Location
December 17, 2009
We moved our office over the Thanksgiving weekend, and we’re very happy with the new space. The address is 5575 S. Durango Drive Suite 107; it’s at the intersection of Durango and Russell.
It’s a convenient location and the layout is perfect for our needs. It’s a nice step up for us. Please stop by and say “hello”. The photo below is of our ribbon cutting ceremony with the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce on December 17.
High Speed Internet Takes Flight
September 24, 2009
I flew to the east coast last month, and for four and a half hours, I was completely cut off from my beloved Internet. The Internet is where I work, read the news, listen to music, watch movies, and get answers to random questions about the weather or anything else on my mind. My serious Internet withdrawals got me wondering when I could expect to have high-speed Internet while in flight.
Fortunately, in-flight Internet is available now on some commercial planes and is in the process of being installed on many more. The number of commercial planes with in-flight Internet is expected to reach 800 by the end of 2009.
In-flight Internet will work using standard Wi-Fi on board the plane, and then connect all passengers and crew to the Internet via satellite or by air-to-ground radio communication. You'll be able to connect your laptop or PDA to the Internet at speeds nearly comparable to what you're accustomed to on the ground.
The two primary in-flight Internet providers vying for market share are Gogo and Row 44. Annual revenue from in-flight Internet is projected to reach $1 billion by 2012.
The technology has been available for some time, but its adoption has faced many obstacles including poor economic conditions coupled with the cost of the equipment, difficulty getting regulatory approval for external antennas, and the weight of the equipment adding to fuel costs.
At this point it's difficult to determine if a flight you're considering will have in-flight Internet. The cost for in-flight Internet is about $6 to $13 depending on the duration of the flight.
Identity Theft - It's Scarier Than You Think
August 5, 2009
Identity theft is the fastest growing crime in the world. It's easy to perform, difficult to catch criminals who engage in it, and penalties are relatively lax. What you don't know about identity theft will surprise you.
This new crime is so lucrative that organized crime and terrorist organizations have jumped on board. Once data is stolen, it's sold on the identity theft market via various Internet sites. Medical insurance information can be sold for $50, social security numbers for $100, and credit cards with a PIN for $500. Criminals profit by selling hundreds or thousands at a time.
Fifty percent of confidential data loss is due to employees losing or stealing data.
As a result of the increasing problem of identity theft, Congress has enacted new legislation, and it's highly likely one or more of these new rules apply to your company. Of note:
- If you bill for a product or service, you meet the definition of a "creditor."
- Employers have a responsibility to secure the data of employees, clients and vendors.
- The liability for identity theft follows the data; if you share confidential data with a payroll company (for example), you're liable if that company has a data breach.
- If an employer loses any employee health information, they're subject to penalties under HIPAA and the HIPAA Security Rule.
- Fines for noncompliance are severe (up to $1M) and executives may be subject to jail time.
With medical identity theft, if someone is lacking medical insurance and needs expensive medical treatment, they can purchase stolen medical insurance information (along with stolen identification) and receive treatment as if they were that person. Imagine receiving a collections call from a hospital asking for payment for an expensive surgery you never had.
An added danger with medical identity theft involves the thief's blood type, drug allergies, and diseases being added to the victim's record. If the victim is treated based on this medical misinformation, it can result in serious bodily harm or death.
Victims of identity theft usually look to the organization responsible for the data breach to be "made whole", and this can result in class action lawsuits. The cost to the average business of a data breach is $6.3M.
The good news is you can protect your business by following some straightforward steps. The sites below have a lot of useful information about preventing identity theft and complying with the law.
www.idtinfo.com
www.julieryan.biz
Information technology plays a very important role in protecting your company from identity theft. Make sure you adhere to information technology best practices and industry standards. Work with your IT provider to make sure your network is secure to minimize the risks of identity theft.
WiMAX comes to Las Vegas
July 9, 2009
Las Vegas is only one of three cities in the U.S. that now has WiMAX, the other two being Atlanta and Portland. WiMAX is a technical standard that allows for wireless coverage over a very large area. Think of WiMAX as similar to the wireless you use to access the Internet in your home or coffee shop... except it covers the entire Las Vegas valley. With WiMAX, you'll be able to connect your laptop (or any other device) wirelessly to the Internet anywhere in the city.
This type of wireless coverage has been available for some time with air cards sold by cell phone carriers, but WiMAX download speeds are much faster. The maximum download speed with my Verizon air card is about 1.5Mbps. WiMAX offers download speeds up to 6Mbps. That's four times faster!
With WiMAX, you can connect a single device (like a laptop) to the Internet using a USB device, or connect an entire network to the Internet with a WiMAX modem.
Clear is the company responsible for bringing WiMAX to Las Vegas. They plan on delivering WiMAX to 80 cities by the end of 2010. WiMAX connectivity costs as little as $20 per month, and is $40 per month and up for higher speeds. My Verizon card with a much slower download speed costs $60 per month.
The disadvantage of WiMAX is the upload speed is significantly slower than the download speed. Clear is marketing their service to mobile and residential users, so business users may find customer service lacking. And if you're a mobile user, you can only use WiMAX in Las Vegas, Atlanta and Portland. This summer Clear says they'll release new equipment that will overcome this limitation by falling back to the cell phone carrier network when you're outside of the WiMAX area.
Eventually, the whole country (and world) will be enveloped in a wireless bubble. No matter what happens with Clear or WiMAX, there's no doubt WiMAX will raise our expectations with regard to high speed Internet access. Watch for Clear's massive advertising campaign that launches this month.
The Importance of Network Security
June 3, 2009
In his speech last Friday, President Obama spoke about the need to secure our country's computer networks. Illustrating the importance of the issue with a personal example, he cited his recent experience with a data security breach during the general election:
"Hackers gained access to emails and a range of campaign files, from policy position papers to travel plans."
Obama went on to say his experience was "a powerful reminder" and noted that hackers make millions of attempts every day to crack computer networks. He announced his intent to appoint a cybersecurity czar to protect the nation from catastrophic disruptions as a result of computer attacks.
Obama appeared to be knowledgeable by using terms such as "spyware and malware and spoofing and phishing and botnets," but the actions his administration will take remains to be seen. Computer security is a large, complex issue, and success will require substantial, comprehensive and well-coordinated action.
To see an excerpt from Obama's speech, click here. To read his full speech, click here.
NetEffect provides Security Audits to its clients, where we examine seven critical components:
1. We list your technology assets and potential threats. Before you can protect yourself, you need to understand what computer data and equipment is important to you and how they can be compromised.
2. We assess data backups and ensure they are regularly taken offsite. We discuss your needs and determine if your backup solution fully satisfies your business needs.
3. We audit security permissions on your server to ensure only the users who need access to sensitive data have it. This also includes assessing password policies to make sure passwords are being changed on a regular basis and are sufficiently complex.
4. We assess your virus protection on PCs, servers and at the gateway device between your network and the Internet.
5. We assess physical access to your computer systems. If someone can gain physical access to your computers, they can easily get your data.
6. We assess your firewall to ensure your office has sufficient protection from the dangers that lurk on the Internet.
7. We educate your users. No matter how well-designed your network and security policies are, your users can unwittingly allow a very dangerous security breach in a myriad of ways. User awareness is one of the most powerful ways to prevent security problems and data loss. Anecdotally, We recently tested a client's security by calling and asking a random user for their password (without specifically identifying ourselves) and they gave it to us without making us verify that we were their IT firm!
To see an excerpt from Obama's speech, click here. To read his full speech, click here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_V6ho0lZwY
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-the-President-on-Securing-Our-Nations-Cyber-Infrastructure/
Computer Support Las Vegas: Windows 7
May 13, 2009
Computer users REJOICE, for Windows 7 has arrived! Windows 7 has been in Beta release since January of this year, and promises to be a rousing success. It's received very positive reviews, and appears to be what Windows Vista should have been... an appreciable improvement over its predecessors.
It's been nearly eight years since Windows XP was released, and Windows Vista has only been with us for two years. Vista has been widely rejected by businesses due to it not being much more than cosmetic improvements to XP along with its extraordinary hardware requirements.
Windows 7 Beta is running on several of our company laptops without issue. In fact, it performs much better than Windows Vista and has some fantastic new features. My three favorite features are:
- Performance!!! Windows 7 is fast even on modest hardware, and is very stable.
- Usability. Windows 7 is easy to use and simply makes sense. The desktop and task bar, for example, have been redesigned to allow for very easy and intuitive use.
- XP Mode. Windows 7 comes with a fully licensed copy of Windows XP that you can run within Windows 7. This allows you to easily access applications that will only run on XP.
Windows 7 Release Candidate 1 is available for download now from Microsoft, and if no major bugs or problems are identified, Windows 7 will be officially released in January of 2010, though it will likely be released sometime this year. We think Windows 7 will be a big hit. To access video previews of Windows 7, click here.
Las Vegas Computer Repair: The Conficker Worm
April 3, 2009
The Conficker worm has garnered a lot of media attention recently. This virus is notable because it's so widespread and because its goal and intention was unknown for quite some time. But truthfully, there are always a large number of computer security risks on the Internet. There are over one million viruses on the Internet, and new ones are created every week. There are a handful of things you can do to protect yourself from viruses including keeping your antivirus software up to date, running weekly virus scans, and applying Windows updates regularly. Also, do not open attachments and links unless you're expecting them and they're from a trusted source. If you do think your PC has been infected by a virus, immediately shut your computer off so you don't infect other computers on your network, and so that the virus doesn't have a chance to damage files on your PC.
To verify you haven't been infected by the Conficker worm, click on the link below.
The site displays images from three sites that Conficker is known to block.
Managed Services Simply Makes Sense
February 1, 2009
We recently began offering managed services to our clients, and it's been going wonderfully. The level of visibility we have in to our client IT systems is simply fantastic, and the quick response we're able to deliver is very gratifying. Rather than trying to intersect with problems while they're happening, our remote management software tells us exactly where to look. Employing these new software tools is in effect practicing what we preach. By employing the right technology for the task, we're a much more efficient service provider.
