Windows 10 is Retiring:
Is Comcast, Xfinity down in my area? Massive outage hits US
0
Epsilon
Is Comcast, Xfinity down in my area? Massive outage hits US

Comcast and Xfinity users across the country Friday found themselves without working internet, and some were without television as well. Thousands of reports of the outage appeared on the website Down Detector and more than half of them said users were experiencing issues with their internet, another 15 percent of reports were of a “total blackout.”

Customers were also taking to Twitter to reach out to the company about the possible outage. The company recommended that some users try checking the status center online, which would require an internet connection of some kind. Comcast also replied to users that they were working to restore service.

It was unclear what was causing the outage Friday and when the service might be up and working again. A Comcast spokesperson told CNBC that the company was aware of the outage that was impacting some users across the country. Comcast did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the outage.

Read More

6 Valuable Benefits of Office 365 for Small Businesses
0
Epsilon
6 Valuable Benefits of Office 365 for Small Businesses

Microsoft’s cloud-based service Office 365 provides users with anytime access to the popular Office suite of applications, adding significant value for small businesses. This blog post discusses 6 important benefits that your small company should consider whether they are a current or potential user of Office 365.

Access to the Latest Office Applications

With Office 365 Business plans (Business, and Business Premium) your company will enjoy the benefits and features of the latest versions of Office applications. Your company will not have to worry about updates, upgrades, patches, or new licenses as your subscription costs will cover these expenses. Having the most up-to-date tools will give your business the confidence to get things done more effectively and efficiently.

Enhanced Ability to Work Remotely

Since Office 365 is cloud-based, it enables users to access all their business applications and work files anytime and anywhere using any internet-accessible device. In addition, Office 365 makes it easy for your employees to use the OneDrive App to link their OneDrive Business and personal accounts and easily switch between them.

Better Collaboration Process

Office 365 makes it possible for multiple team members to co-author the same document simultaneously. This real-time document editing and formatting capability enhances the collaboration process for small businesses. The days of emailing huge files and worrying about version control are now a problem of the past. In addition, Office 365 also makes it easier to share any deliverable documents with clients at all stages of the production process.

Team members can also take advantage of the Skype for Business application to chat with each other via audio or visual conversations throughout all stages of project planning and implementation.

Read More

What is 5G? Here are the basics
0
Epsilon
What is 5G? Here are the basics

Those crazy-fast 5G networks are right around the corner.

Unfortunately, they also come with their own vocabulary of tech jargon and buzzwords that wireless industry executives throw around a little too casually.

First off, a quick definition of 5G: It’s the next (fifth) generation of cellular technology which promises to greatly enhance the speed, coverage and responsiveness of wireless networks. How fast are we talking about? Think 10 to 100 times speedier than your typical cellular connection, and even faster than anything you can get with a physical fiber-optic cable going into your house. (You’ll be able to download a season’s worth of “Stranger Things” in seconds.)

 It’s not just about supercharging your phone’s connection to the network either; 5G is seen as the underlying technology allowing self-driving cars to talk to each other, or for people to wirelessly stream super high-definition virtual reality content into their headsets.

In other words, it’s going to be huge.

Read More

Five Cyber-Security Threats Enterprises Will Confront in 2018
0
Epsilon
Five Cyber-Security Threats Enterprises Will Confront in 2018

NEWS ANALYSIS: Cyber-security threats will likely get worse next year as attacks get more sophisticated, but for organizations the focus will shift to loss prevention.

Attackers are changing their tactics so some of the malware that you have become used to dealing with in 2017 has declined in favor of some other types that will be worse. What won’t change is a persistent trend of organizations and their employees to fail to take even the most basic steps to protect themselves and their data. Here are five things you can expect:

  1. Ransomware attacks will get worse. Cyber-criminals have already discovered that holding someone’s data for ransom is a reliable means of extorting money in small amounts.
  2. Email will become a bigger threat than it was in 2017. This means that organizations will need to develop some means of authentication before employees can take certain important actions, such as transferring large amounts of money based on an emailed request, or sending the entire customer list to someone outside the company.
  3. Leaked exploits will make the spread of malware even harder to fight. New exploits will be leaked, giving hackers new ways to break into computers. The best defense will be to keep your systems updated religiously.
  4. Malware will become more targeted. You will need to be prepared for everything from order spoofing and bogus invoices to payment documentation that comes complete with embedded malware. As in the case of email, you will need to develop authentication methods if you can’t find automated methods available commercially.
  5. Stupidity will persist. No matter how good your policies and procedures may be, and no matter what or how many security products you throw at the problem, your staff will remain your weakest point unless you find a way to keep your staff from being able to do dumb things, such as clicking on email links.

Read More

Harvey and Irma – Reminders to Adopt/Reevaluate Your Disaster Recovery Plan
0
Epsilon
Harvey and Irma – Reminders to Adopt/Reevaluate Your Disaster Recovery Plan

The effects of hurricanes like Harvey and the approaching Irma should be a reminder to all businesses of the importance of disaster recovery planning. When a storm approaches, a business’s first concern is how to protect its employees and physical property. However, we shouldn’t forget that a natural disaster can also destroy a business’s information and technology assets critical to its success and continuity. Key steps to prepare and respond to a natural disaster can help minimize the blow. There are many aspects to comprehensive disaster recovery planning.

Below are some recommended best practices for an effective disaster recovery plan:

  1. Build the Right Team. Companies should be clear about what they are setting out to do and involve the appropriate segments of their organizations.
  2. Conduct a Risk Assessment. Before a company can develop a disaster recovery plan, it must first identify the information and technology assets it needs to protect, their locations, their role to the success of the business.
  3. Employee Safety. Information and technology assets are critically important, but not at the expense of human life.
  4. Develop a Plan. Having involved key personnel and assessed the risks, the business is in a position to develop an enterprise-wide disaster recovery plan. The disaster recovery plan should be in writing.
  5. Update the Plan. As your business changes, grows, and adds locations and new people, the disaster recovery plan also may need to change to address those changes. A regular review of the plan is critical.

Read More

Microsoft ends support for Windows Vista, here are your options
0
Epsilon
Microsoft ends support for Windows Vista, here are your options

On Tuesday, Microsoft officially ended support for Windows Vista, leaving a host of Windows shops without security updates, technical content, and more. The 10-year support cycle for Vista is up, so Microsoft is moving to invest “resources towards more recent technologies” so it can “continue to deliver great new experiences.”

Although Microsoft has been planning the move for a while, it officially announced the end of Vista support in a blog post on the company’s website. According to the post, Windows Vista users “will no longer receive new security updates, non-security hotfixes, free or paid assisted support options, or online technical content updates from Microsoft.”

The news means that organizations will have a more difficult time maintaining a strong security posture and could lose access to some apps, as updates could render them incompatible with Vista. Here are four options for Vista users looking to make an upgrade.

Read More

Amazon Web Services Issue Leaves Part of the Internet in Disarray
0
Epsilon
Amazon Web Services Issue Leaves Part of the Internet in Disarray

There’s no reason to throw your computer out the window.

If you’ve noticed some websites have been loading slowly or not at all, you’ll be relieved to know it’s not you or your machine.

The culprit is an Amazon Web Services issue, which has caused “increased error rates” for east coast based websites Tuesday afternoon.

It’s unclear what caused the issue. Amazon said in an update that they are continuing “to experience high error rates” in the affected area. The company said they “believe we understand root cause, and are working on implementing what we believe will remediate the issue.”

Read More

IBM’s Watson proves useful at fighting cancer—except in Texas
0
Epsilon
IBM’s Watson proves useful at fighting cancer—except in Texas

IBM’s Watson is on the move. With the new ability to quickly develop clever personalized treatment strategies for cancer patients, Watson is making its debut in hospitals around the world—from the US to India, Korea, and China. Earlier this month, a medical center in Jupiter, Florida, announced it too was welcoming the famed, Jeopardy-winning computing system into its hospital rooms.

IBM to set Watson loose on cancer genome data
But, there’s one place where Watson isn’t moving: The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. In fact, Watson is frozen there. And it’s more than just a computer glitch.

According to a blistering audit by the University of Texas System, the cancer center grossly mismanaged its splashy program with IBM, which started back in 2012. The program aimed to teach Watson how to treat cancer patients and match them to clinical trials. Watson initially met goals and impressed center doctors, but the project hit the rocks as MD Anderson officials snubbed their own IT experts, mishandled about $62 million in funding, and failed to follow basic procedures for overseeing contracts and invoices, the audit concludes.

IBM pulled support for the project back in September of last year. Watson is currently prohibited from being used on patients there, and the fate of MD Anderson’s partnership with IBM is in question. MD Anderson is now seeking bids from other contractors who might take IBM’s place.

Apple Tops Samsung to Become Leader of the Smartphone Market
0
Epsilon
Apple Tops Samsung to Become Leader of the Smartphone Market

Apple has bested Samsung as the number one global smartphone maker, but only by a razor-thin margin.

A new Gartner report this week showed that Apple now has 17.9% of the total smartphone market compared with Samsung’s 17.8% market share. In the fourth quarter, Apple sold 77 million iPhones while Samsung sold 76.8 million of its lineup of smartphones, the report said.

It’s a bit of a milestone for Apple, which has been second to Samsung in terms of smartphones for eight consecutive quarters.

“The last time Apple was in the leading position was in the fourth quarter of 2014, when its sales were driven by its first ever large-screen iPhone 6 and 6 Plus,” said Gartner research director Anshul Gupta in a statement.

Read More

Fake UPS emails deliver Windows shortcut malware
0
Epsilon
Fake UPS emails deliver Windows shortcut malware

Windows shortcut files have seen a small rise in popularity lately. The shortcut files, using the .lnk file extension, are essentially small files Windows uses to point elsewhere in the file system. Normally you may think of shortcuts to other programs like your browser or a game residing on your desktop. Well this malware is essentially operating in the same way, but taking advantage of the powerful Windows shell tool… Powershell.

The “missed parcel” tactic is a pretty common theme among malware campaigns. It’s vague enough to get most users attention in to wanting to click for more detail. The same can be seen with missed fax/voicemail/jury duty, etc campaigns. This one was pretty plain with a zip attached promising more information once opened.

Read More