Do firewall appliances expire like a carton of milk?

Something that many people don’t know is that there are actually expiration dates on hardware and software. Let’s say you buy a Cisco ASA 5505 security appliance (firewall) for your business, and you keep it up to date. When do you expect to replace it? Chances are, you feel that the firewall should be left in place until it dies …

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Safe Browsing from Public Wi-Fi Hotspots is possible with a VPN

WSPA’s Amy Wood (@TVAmy) had a great segment on last night (2011-02-07) in which she had Doug Cone (@nullvariable) a local web/graphics “devsigner” discussing the dangers of using public Wi-Fi. You can find that story here. He demonstrated a tool which allows even the most novice of “hackers” to see a list of others who are using any given open …

The End Is Near! All IPv4 Addresses Now Spoken For

We knew the day was coming, and today we learned that it was sooner than later. IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority), the organization that manages IP addresses and domain allocations has assigned two IPv4 address blocks to APNIC (The Asian-Pacific Network Information Centre), which in turn has caused a provision in the IANA rules to go into affect, releasing the …

SonicWALL promotion allows you to buy one CDP backup appliance and get one free!

We received a promotion announcement today that states SonicWALL has a buy one get one free deal on their CDP backup appliances and thought we would pass this on to you. If you are looking to purchase a SonicWALL CDP 110 or 210 Backup and Recovery Appliance, please call 864.990.4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com because this is a great deal for …

WatchGuard XCS 370 Awarded CRN Product of the Year in Security Appliance Category

One of our security partners, WatchGuard, was just awarded the CRN’s “Security Appliance Product of the Year” for their XCS 370 series device! Here’s the press statement: WatchGuard XCS 370 Security Appliance Wins in CRN’s 2010 Products of the Year SEATTLE – January 11, 2011. WatchGuard® Technologies, a global leader of business security solutions, today announced that the company won …

Secure IT Alert: Apple QuickTime for Mac & Windows Vulnerable – Time to Update!

Secure IT Alert for Thursday, December 09, 2010 Apple has released a security update that addresses 15 media handling vulnerabilities in Apple QuickTime player on both the Mac and Windows operating systems. These vulnerabilities are similar in nature… If attacker can coax a user to open a malicious media file, such as an image or a video, the holes can …

Stuxnet virus possibly biggest threat to industry ever

An article from the Associated Press published on news.yahoo.com on Wednesday outlines the threat that the Stuxnet virus poses to industry around the world. The malicious computer attack appears to primarily target the Iranian nuclear plants, but according to the article, it can be modified to interfere with industrial control systems around the world, and “represents the most dire cyberthreat …

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Thinking of buying computer hardware or software “Dirt Cheap?” Read this first…

I’m sure you have heard the old adage “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is…” In the case of computers, servers, firewalls, VoIP equipment, Microsoft, Adobe and other hardware / software, that has always been true. For example: We have one client who purchased Microsoft Office Professional 2003 a number of years ago on the cheap. …

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Electronic Medical Records for Healthcare – Are they safe? EMR, EHR

It is no surprise that Electronic Healthcare Records / Electronic Medical Records are all over the news currently. It is an issue that affects our privacy and anytime that is in question, we get people on both sides of the fence up in arms. Built into the 2009 stimulus bill are requirements that healthcare records go digital by 2014. Yet …