Come join the #googleonmain #luckygvl people in beautiful downtown #greenville SC at Falls Park, where the original Google On Main even took place!
Bring water guns, wear T-Shirts in the color of Google’s logo…
RSVP here: FACEBOOK EVENT
Please read the instructions on that site….
Network surveillance camera giveaway
I present to you: July’s freaky fun thing from Homeland Secure IT…
We are going to give away a cool color WiFi IP surveillance camera!
These network security cameras are pretty nifty! They feature wireless 802.11b/g connectivity, or wired CAT-5 to your network, as well as full color via a 1/4″ CMOS sensor, with 640×480 resolution at 30fps (full motion). They support WEP and WPA encryption.
These babies can automatically email you a snapshot at the first sign of activity, so you can get it on your smart phone, or you can log in and watch the video feed live with a web browser or some mobile smart phones… It comes with software to turn a computer into a DVR to record the video.
Oh, did I mention that it features infrared illumination so it can see it total darkness? Yep… pretty cool!
All you have to do is to attach the little mount it comes with to a wall and then attach the camera to that, connect the power supply and your network cable, or you can program it to connect wirelessly to your network.
What’s the catch? There is none… Absolutely no purchase, no obligation to enter our giveaway, other than to get connected to us via our mailing lists or this blog. On this blog you can look to the right, and enter your email address in the “Follow Me” section and then hit subscribe and you can sign up for our email mailing lists HERE.
We combine the subscription lists from the blog and our two mailing lists into one list and draw randomly, which creates a loophole that can work to someone’s benefit – If you are subscribed to all 3 places, you have 3 chances to win…
Legal mumbo-jumbo: This offer is void where prohibited. Winner must pick up prize at our office in Greenville SC, or make arrangements for it to be shipped at his/her expense.
We will select the winner on July 31st 2010 and announce it the following week via a blog post, social media, etc!
In the meantime, if you want to purchase one of these snazzy cameras, we sell them as well as a full line of security and surveillance cameras and DVRs, so shoot us an email at info@homelandsecureit.com or call us at 864-990-4748….
Homeland Secure IT has more fun giveaways coming! We are going to be giving some silly stuff and some spiffy stuff away to those who are on our mailing lists…
You have to play the game to win… To play, you need only sign up for our mailing lists and/or subscribe to this blog. While everyone in the USA is eligible (except where prohibited by law) our mailing lists are primarily of interest to computer and technology enthusiasts, business owners, entrepreneurs, our clients & future clients of course, friends, family and individuals, mostly in and around the Greenville and Upstate South Carolina area. If you live outside of the local area and cannot pick up the cool stuff you win from our office, then you will be responsible for the shipping and handling costs.
WHAT CAN YOU WIN? Just what are we planning to give away to those who subscribe? In no particular order: A wireless network / IP surveillance camera complete with night vision, Trend Micro Anti-Virus, APC & Eaton UPS, free computer service & support, gift cards to various places around the Upstate and more! (Who knows, maybe a cool Android device, or netbook, etc)
We will announce the giveaways as we start them. The next one will be for July 2010.
WHY ARE WE DOING THIS? Because we want to increase awareness of our products and services, but we also want to have fun and to give something back to those who support us!
HOW TO ENTER: On our blog simply enter your email address & click on the subscribe button on the right-hand side where it says “Follow Me” to subscribe to this blog, which will be emailed to you each day there is new content, or you can sign up for either one or all of our mailing lists. There are currently two mailing lists, the “NewsBytes” ML which has minimal traffic, no more than once per week, and the “Secure IT Alerts” mailing list, which has only postings that regard to security, such as vulnerabilities and patches – traffic varies on that list. (There is a form below)
HOW WE SELECT A WINNER: At the time of the drawings, ALL lists are combined together and a name is selected randomly using a random number generator to get a number that corresponds to a name on that list.
LOOPHOLE ALERT: There is one flaw that can be used in your favor… If you are on multiple lists and subscribed to the blog, your name is going to be in the list multiple times, increasing your chances of winning.
Sign up now using this form:
Time to replace that old computer? Wanting the latest and greatest? Bigger (or smaller), faster, cooler? Are you just looking for a good excuse to treat yourself? I know I am! Late Father’s Day gift to yourself? Early Christmas? How about an Independence Day gift? That sounds good!
In any case, if you are planning on buying a new notebook or desktop computer, don’t forget to protect that investment with the purchase of these items:
Anti-Virus / Anti-Malware:There is no way you can survive these days without proper anti-virus on your computer! Regardless of your platform, you need this protection. Our favorite is Trend Micro Anti-Virus, which we sell and install. However, if you are truly replacing your computer and not just adding another one, you may already own current anti-virus software. If you do, then you can download and install on the new computer, using the same activation code. Getting a Mac and think you can run “bareback” because they are immune to viruses, trojans, etc… Think again. More and more malicious software is targeting Apple Mac OS X.
Uninterruptable Power Supply / UPS: You are buying an expensive piece of hardware, and then trusting that the power company is going to deliver a good clean source of power to your system. A surge protector can help, but an UPS will not only protect the hardware, it will keep you from losing documents you are working on should the power go out. Our favorite brands of power protection products are APC and Eaton. They make an UPS for every situation, whether you need to protect a single computer, a complete system with monitor, modem, printer, etc or you have to protect a server or a data center.
Backup Solution: You now have an awesome system, with lots of room to download music and store thousands or tens of thousands of photos, movies, etc… What happens in the event of a hard drive failure? These days, you can use online backup solutions such as our Servosity service which will automatically backup your data to the cloud (the internet) in a safe and secure (encrypted) data center. You can then restore your data in the event of a loss. We also offer physical backup solutions, such as USB drives, tape backup systems, Symantec Backup Exec, and we do work with other backup providers as well.
Insurance Rider: Your insurance policy may not cover an expensive computer system. Check with your insurance carrier to make sure you are properly covered in the event of a loss to fire, flood, theft, lightning strike, etc. Many times a rider can be added to your policy for only a few dollars a month that will protect your hardware, and even software.
If you have any questions about these solutions and what may be right for you, please do not hesitate to call us, we can provide computer repair, consultation and sales. We are authorized resellers for APC & Eaton power protection products, Trend Micro anti-virus / anti-malware, Servosity, Mozy & Symantec backup solutions and more! Call us at 864-990-4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com to find out how we can help you in the Greenville / Upstate SC area…
Whenever I see a creative video, I just can’t help myself, I have to share it with everyone. The OK Go’s “End Love” is just that type of video… OK Go have made a habit of creating original and exciting music videos. You don’t even have to like their music to enjoy the effort that went into it and the final product, though their music is pretty good too!
Click on the video player and go to YouTube to check out their other videos while you are at it.
Homeland Secure IT Alert
Macintosh users are getting their own patches for Mal-Ware lately. Released last week with absolutely no fanfare was OS X 10.6.4 which addresses a Trojan vulnerability among other things. It seems that Apple intentionally has not made a big deal about this security issue, partly to help keep up the appearance that Mac computers are impervious to malicious software. A thought that is echoed by countless owners and proponents of the platform.
Regarding the Trojan and the patch, security firm Sophos has more information here – basically, the vulnerability can give full control of your Mac PC to an attacker…
As with any operating system, whether it is Microsoft Windows, various versions of Linux, Unix, *BSD, or even the beloved Mac OS X, it is important that your computer have proper anti-virus / anti-malware installed, and that you keep the operating system itself up to date with patches as well as any supporting software you may use. Adobe recently announced multiple vulnerabilities in their Flash and Air that are vulnerable on Mac OS X as well as every other platform.
Should you require assistance installing updates or patches, or would like to purchase Anti-Virus / Anti-Malware such as our favorite, Trend Micro Worry Free Business Security and the entire product line from Trend Micro, please call us at 864-990-4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com for more information.
Homeland Secure IT Alert - Contact Info
I have an idea for a great iPad app that would be awesome for fellow musicians… Imagine having a screen the size of the iPad, with a mount that secures it to a typical mic stand, and allows you to adjust it to a comfortable viewing angle. Now imagine an app that has the chords, tabs and lyrics available for your viewing, and lets you store the most popular songs, as well as search the ‘net for content on the fly.
That would be my dream setup for playing live gigs and when a request for some song you are familiar with but have never played, or maybe you can play it but don’t know the lyrics – you pull it up on your iPad and viola, you make someone happy that you couldn’t have otherwise have done.
Also for learning new songs, practicing, etc, this would be great! I’m waiting for this to come around! If it doesn’t, I may have to develop it myself.
While searching for my dream app, I found one from the Piano Guy, who has a TV show teaching piano… He now has an iPad app for his lessons that lets a person download the lesson, place the iPad on your piano, just like printed music, at a comfortable viewing angle and watch these videos to play along… Nice application!
Homeland Secure IT Alert
Homeland Secure IT Alert for Friday, June 18, 2010
Greetings and salutations,
Last week we warned of Critical Vulnerabilities which affect Adobe products and this week we are hearing of many people being exploited by these security holes.
There are patches and updates available that will secure your system, however, they are not applied automatically and must be performed by someone on each workstation. These updates are NOT handled by Microsoft Windows Update, WSUS, and many patch management systems.
Note that this affects ALL platforms, Microsoft Windows, Windows Server, Mac OS X, Linux, Solaris, VMWare systems with VMWare Tools.
This is an excerpt from the Adobe site:
AFFECTED SOFTWARE VERSIONS
Adobe Flash Player 10.0.45.2 and earlier versions for Windows, Macintosh, Linux and Solaris
Adobe AIR 1.5.3.9130 and earlier versions for Windows, Macintosh and Linux
To verify the Adobe Flash Player version number installed on your system, access the About Flash Player page, or right-click on content running in Flash Player and select “About Adobe (or Macromedia) Flash Player” from the menu. If you use multiple browsers, perform the check for each browser you have installed on your system.
To verify the Adobe AIR version number installed on your system, access the Adobe AIR TechNote for instructions.
SOLUTION
Adobe Flash Player
Adobe recommends all users of Adobe Flash Player 10.0.45.2 and earlier versions upgrade to the newest version 10.1.53.64 by downloading it from the Adobe Flash Player Download Center or by using the auto-update mechanism within the product when prompted.
To address the vulnerabilities described in this Security Bulletin, a prerelease version of Flash Player 10.1 for Solaris platforms is available from Adobe Labs.
For users who cannot update to Flash Player 10.1.53.64, Adobe has developed a patched version of Flash Player 9, Flash Player 9.0.277.0, which can be downloaded from the following link.
Adobe AIR
Adobe recommends all users of Adobe AIR 1.5.3.9130 and earlier versions update to the newest version 2.0.2.12610 by downloading it from the Adobe AIR Download Center.
SEVERITY RATING
Adobe categorizes this as a critical update and recommends affected users update their installations to the newest versions.
More information about the security updates is available from Adobe at this URL:
http://www.adobe.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb10-14.html
If we can be of any assistance at all, please do not hesitate to contact us… We perform complete computer, server and network support, service and repair in Greenville and Upstate SC, as well as offer best-in-class Anti-Virus from Trend Micro!
Be safe and have a great weekend!
Homeland Secure IT Alert - Contact Info
The little Apple iPad could come complete with a big security hole
The awesome little iPad tablet computer from apple is still vulnerable to the hacks that were reported earlier. According to this article, ‘Once implemented, the hack can reportedly allow hackers to steal someone else’s email identity, reflash network devices with firmware, or trick Safari into doing “pretty much anything on any TCP port and not have any current IDS/IPS in existence be any wiser for it.”‘
The Safari browser has been patched on other platforms, but remains vulnerable on the iPad. User beware…
Homeland Secure IT is committed to helping our clients stay safe by informing them of potential security issues. If we can help you or your business with network security or network support, please email info@homelandsecureit.com or call us today at 864-990-4748.
Apple iPad owners have their first major security worry…. As the title says…
Read more here: http://gawker.com/5559346/apples-worst-security-breach-114000-ipad-owners-exposed
If you own an iPad, you may wish to visit that page.
