If you are using pcAnywhere to remotely access your computer, you probably want to go read the “pcAnywhere Security Recommendations” posted by Symantec.
The danger is that someone so inclined could potentially access your computer through vulnerabilities exposed from old source code, and gain full access to your computer, files and your network.
To sum it up, disabling pcAnywhere is a surefire way to protect yourself and your company.
If you have questions about this or any other security issue in the Greenville or Upstate SC area, please call upon Homeland Secure IT, we can help set your mind at ease. 864.990.4748
What is your objection to cloud based data backup? Here are some points to consider… #Symantec #Cloud #DisasterReadiness
Offsite, online, cloud backup for your business
Homeland Secure IT encourages the use of backup solutions to complete your disaster readiness plan. One of our recommendations is to implement remote, cloud based backup. Even if you have existing onsite backup, it gives you an extra layer of protection.
We partner with some of the biggest and most trusted names in offsite, cloud based backup providers such as (locally owned) Servosity, Mozy Pro and of course, Symantec.
Below, Symantec.cloud counters some of the most common objections to backing up your data offsite:
“My data won’t be secure”
- With Symantec Backup Exec.cloud, your data is secured during transit using 128 bit SSL encryption and stored using 256 bit AES encryption when at rest in Symantec’s highly secure, enterprise-class facilities.
“Online Backup will drain my bandwidth”
- After your initial backup, Symantec Backup Exec.cloud uses block level, incremental backup and performs backup of file changes only.
- Symantec Backup Exec.cloud uses bandwidth throttling to minimize impacts to your business productivity.
“It will be too difficult to manage”
- Automate backups to run on a schedule, or to backup when file modifications occur.
- Let us manage your backups for you!
- It’s easy to administer yourself – hassle free set up in just three steps.
“Backup is too expensive”
- BE.cloud offers usage-based pricing with no per-user licensing fees
- Subscription fee includes support, maintenance, and enhancements.
- With this solution there is no need to pay for resources to manage and maintain the backup system or for off-site tape storage.
“We don’t really need backup, we use removable drives and discs”
- What happens if the drive/disc is damaged, fails, is lost or stolen?
- How often are you performing backup? – Using removable drives and discs is a manual process that requires time – your time – to manage them. What could you be doing if this process was automated? Would your backup happen more regularly than it does now?
- Are there PCs or laptops that aren’t protected by using this method?
- What would happen to your productivity if one of these machines suffered a disaster/hardware failure? Would your workers lose data they need to do their jobs effectively? Would you lose any customer records, business or financial information?
“We want to manage our backup onsite”
- On-premise backup solutions can be expensive and require someone (perhaps you) to maintain them.
- On-premise backup solutions place the burden of security, storage and tape/disc vaulting on you. They also expose you to the risk of losing equipment and data in the event of a local natural disaster. - Use online backup with your existing on-premise solution to address off-site protection!
- Online backup replaces large upfront investments with predictable subscription based pricing. Managed virtually onsite using a web browser, you can not only manage and monitor the backup of machines at your location, but also at remote offices and on the machines of your mobile workers.
If you would like to know more about backing up to the cloud, or would like to discuss your backup / disaster recovery plan, please call 864.990.4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com today. We provide complete service and sales of physical, onsite backup systems, from tape to disk in addition to cloud solutions.
In what is becoming way too common, the popular site, mysql.com was exploited, and used to distribute malware by redirecting visitors to another site this week.
Anyone browsing to mysql.com yesterday would have been redirected, and without even being prompted, then likely been exploited themselves by the software running on the rogue website which apparently looked for vulnerable browser plugins to use for an injection point.
Trend Micro’s smart web filtering may have caught this and stopped it, but one thing is for sure… Doing everything you can to protect yourself from this type of exploit is more important than ever.
You should always insure you are running up-to-date and mainstream/quality anti-virus software (Such as Trend Micro), and also keep your operating system (whether Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OS X or even linux), browser, and all support software such as Adobe Flash Player, Adobe Reader and JAVA, as well as Microsoft Office fully updated!
Another thing you should consider is backups! With the cost of USB hard drives at an all time low, and online backup (Like our Servosity offering) being an easy install, configuration and affordable, there is no excuse to not have backups.
Should you need assistance in the Greenville / Upstate SC area determining what you or your business needs, please contact us at 864.990.4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com. We provide sales of Trend Micro, Symantect & McAfee anti-virus protection, virus cleanup & removal, and can handle your computer service & computer repair tasks!
This may come as no surprise to those who have been around computer security for a while, but the BIOS viruses are making a comeback!
One of the first made its debut back in 1999 and was known as “CIH”. But Symantec is reporting a new killer on the block called “Trojan.Mebromi” that affects the Award BIOS and seizes control of a system even before you get to the MBR (Master Boot Record).
Expect this trend to continue….
Read more about it here:
http://www.symantec.com/connect/blogs/bios-threat-showing-again
As always, please insure your systems are using the latest anti-virus (We suggest and sell Trend Micro products such as the amazing Trend Micro Worry Free Business Security), that all updates are applied to your Microsoft Windows operating systems, all applications and support programs from Microsoft Office, to Adobe Reader, Flash and JAVA are at the latest patch levels. Obtain a quality firewall, and use common sense! And don’t forget to BACKUP!
If you suspect your system may be infected, or want to know how to better protect your computer or an entire business full of computers and servers, please call us at 864.990.4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com. We offer virus removal and cleanup in the Greenville / Upstate, SC area.
We provide sales, licensing, installation and support for Trend Micro and Symantec products. We can sell you one seat, or protect your business with 1000 users!
If you own a smartphone, you know what your cellular provider does to the phone before you get it. With Android based phones, each phone is subjected to a custom install of carrier specific “tools” laid on top of the beautiful Android OS.
Verizon thought you didn’t need the Google browser by default, so they sent you to Bing, and Sprint, they thought navigation would be better handled elsewhere, etc. So you really don’t get a Google Android phone the way Google intended it to be, and in turn, phones run slower, lack the ability to perform certain functions, and it sure makes it difficult to compare a Samsung Galaxy phone on Verizon to one on Sprint or another carrier because they don’t have the same exact install. Most consider them crippled.
You will find a growing number of people have opted to “root” their phones and bypass the garbage, or install a pure Google Android OS on it. Creating phones that run much faster than their stock counterparts.
What about computers? For years, manufacturers of computers have been bundling software with computers. This preinstalled software could add a specific function, allowing you to access features of a notebook that are not supported by the stock Microsoft Windows Operating System, or they could just be junk.
The “junk” ranges from demos of games and applications, to browser search bars and other tools.
It’s easy to see why a manufacturer would bundle a trial of Norton Anti-Virus, because if you register it, they likely get a kickback from Symantec, but, could manufacturers be loading something malicious?
In one article, a man has claimed that Samsung has loaded a keystroke logger on new notebooks… Samsung is denying this, and it is possibly that VIPRE is producing a false positive, but, none-the-less, a cause for concern. Time will tell in this matter.
All these things taken into consideration, it is easy to see why some people buy a new computer and immediately wipe and reload a pure Microsoft Windows operating system.
One reason we love offering computers from Seneca Data, such as the Nexlink series that we offer businesses, is that they do NOT come loaded down with junk. Though, they have in recent years begun to install a tool to allow for easy restore disk creation, a trial of Norton and a pre-load of the Microsoft Office trial, we believe these to actually be tools a new computer needs. We CAN order them with NO operating system, and we can provide them with our own build of the OS to preimage.
Should you be interested in computer for your business that you are SURE do not come pre-loaded with unwanted software, you might want to give our Seneca Data Nexlink computers a serious look! Call us at 864.990.4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com for more information. We offer computer & server sales, service and support to Greenville / Upstate businesses and individuals.
Our number one selling security software to protect small business servers, endpoints (desktops), mobile notebook computers, and Microsoft Exchange email is Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security Advanced. There’s a good reason for this… Our clients get the most bang for the buck from this product! It even filters SPAM!
Trend Micro products always rank in the highest levels of anti-virus protection, but just as important is the fact that the Trend Micro agents do not slow your computers down like many other products…
Now Trend Micro has taken an already incredible product and turned it up to 11! (sorry for the “This is Spinal Tap” reference).
Worry-Free Business Security v7.0 does everything the previous v6.0 did, and much more.
The following new features and enhancements are provided with version 7.0 of Worry-Free Business Security.
What’s New in v7.0
Version 7.0 of Worry-Free Business Security provides the following new features and enhancements:
o Mac Client Protection (Advanced only) And YES, your Macs need protection too!
o Data Loss Prevention via email templates (Advanced only): data loss prevention content filtering policies prevent sensitive information from being distributed outside the network
o Device Control: regulates access to USB devices and network resources (Frequently asked for by businesses)
o Customized Installation: install only needed components (Cuts down on install size dramatically)
o Enhanced URL Filtering: including Flexible business hour settings and a separate block list from Web Reputation (Many businesses are using this to control their user’s browsing and bandwidth hogging with great success!)
o Enhanced ScanMail for Exchange Support (Advanced Only); supports Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 (Say goodbye to spam and viruses in email)
o Web Reputation Filter: scans URLs in email messages and takes a configurable action when detecting malicious URLs. This feature is separate from spam filtering. (This stops the number one way people are becoming infected)
o Email Reputation Services Filter: helps block spam and malicious emails by checking the IP addresses of incoming emails against one of the world’s largest email reputation databases as well as a dynamic reputation database. It helps to identify new spam and phishing sources and stop even zombies and botnets as they first emerge. (Many businesses claim better success with Trend than with Barracuda and other spam firewall appliances)
o Simpler and easier Security Agent user interface
o Easier replication amongst WFBS servers
o Enhanced blocked page with clear explanation and continue browsing option (Again, helps control those bad websites)
If you are a current subscriber to Trend Micro WFBS, this is a FREE upgrade, the only expense would be for a computer service professional to handle the install and configuration if you do not have your own IT staff.
Those who are not using Trend Micro products will be pleased to find that there is a “Competitive Upgrade” available that will let you transition from McAfee, Symantec, etc. If you are buying Trend Micro for the first time, and not renewing, there are some current specials for you too, such as the Three Years for Two campaign, letting you pay for two years and get a third year for free.
Please call us at 864.990.4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com for pricing for your business. We also offer installation, configuration and support in the Greenville / Upstate, SC area. Should you become infected, our virus removal and cleanup service is fast & affordable.
Is your business currently using Symantec, McAfee, Microsoft or Kaspersky for corporate anti-virus protection?
If so, and you are unhappy with the current level of protection and would be interested in trying Trend Micro but the cost has been prohibitive, then maybe the Competitive Upgrade offer will encourage you to make the move!
Trend calls their program “Competitive Displacement”, and should you be using one of the aforementioned security suites, then you qualify for the discounted price. How much of a discount? A large one, over 10 dollars per seat on Trend Micro Worry Free Business Security Standard!
These updates apply to the following Trend Micro products: Worry Free Business Security (both Standard & Advanced), Worry-Free Business Security Services, Hosted Email Security, Hosted Email Security-Inbound Filtering, Scanmail Suite for Microsoft Exchange (SMEX Suite), Scanmail for MS Exchange Suite with Email Reputation Services, Scanmail Suite for Lotus Domino, Enterprise Security for Endpoints (Advanced), Enterprise Security for Communication and Collaboration Suite, Enterprise Security for Endpoints and Mail Servers, and Trend Micro Enterprise Security Suite.
If you would like more information about Trend Micro anti-virus, anti-malware, anti-spam products, please call us at 864.990.4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com
We are a Trend Micro Partner and offer complete sales & licensing for a single workstation, notebook or server to thousands! We also offer installation and support in the Greenville / Upstate SC area.
HP StorageWorks RDX Technology
When selecting a backup solution, you may be considering one of the following:
LTO, DLT, DAT Tape – The de facto standard in backup media for business and enterprise. Though it is growing a little long in the tooth, the format has proven itself to be reliable and affordable when you consider the lifetime of the drive and the media. These are available in a variety of flavors, from SCSI, to SATA, internal and external. And for those needing massive storage and speed, there are enormous auto-loaders such as 96 slot HP LTO 5 fiber channel systems.
Iomega REV removable cartridge systems – Outdated, no longer sold or supported by Iomega. (You can still buy media)
Portable hard drives – While these seem attractive because they are cheap and available at every office supply house in town, the reliability of these devices is not idea for mission critical solutions. The constant plugging and unplugging of USB cables can wear connectors out prematurely and there is the slight possibility that a server can be damaged by static when plugging in a drive. Most IT people feel this is a better solution than no solution at all.
Remote Backup or In-The-Cloud backup – We offer Servosity Online Backup and feel it is a great addition to any existing hardware backup system you may have, and could serve as your primary backup if so desired. These are affordable solutions that require very little hands-on time.
Network based disk storage – These are awesome for speed, and convenience, but they generally remain on site and in the event of a catastrophic disaster such as fire, flood, or even theft, you could be left with no backup. This falls under the “much better than nothing” category.
Flash drives and other non-volatile storage media, including CD & DVD – Again, this better than nothing and surely works for small amounts of data, but longevity may be in question. CDs and DVDs have a lifespan after written to, usually of only a few years, making long term archival use impossible. Flash drives are great to make a quick backup, but there are occurrences of people losing data on one from high powered RF devices erasing them. Probably not a solution for most businesses.
A plethora of other technologies exist, but one that has been gaining momentum in the business and enterprise market is RDX.
RDX, or Removable Disk Technology is based around a docking station that accepts an RDX cartridge. The cartridge encases and protects a hard drive. RDX cartridges come in many sizes, whether you need 160GB or 1.5TB, there is bound to be one that fits your data needs.
What makes RDX different from a typical portable or removable drives? It is a “hardened” solution that encloses the hard drive and enables it to take a drop of up to 1 meter. These systems also offer protection from static discharge. A typical RDX can move upwards of a 100GB an hour. If you outgrow the the original size cartridge, you can begin replacing them with larger capacity as the dock is backwards and forwards compatible with any other RDX cartridge.
RDX is a standard that allows you to purchase cartridges from any manufacture to use in your system. It also offers a shelf life of up to 30 years, allowing you to archive your data and know that if the IRS audits you, you can access it.
No need to upgrade your current backup software in most cases when switching to RDX as the technology is already supported in most backup applications such as Symantec Backup Exec!
If you are looking for a backup solution, whether it is your first, or an upgrade of a current system, then you may wish to give RDX a close look. Call us at 864.990.4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com. We offer RDX products from HP, Imation, Lenovo, and Quantum to name a few. We offer a free evaluation in Greenville and the Upstate of South Carolina.
If you own or maintain your own business phone or computer network, you are probably renewing your licensing yearly for everything from your Cisco VoIP phone system & ASA 5500 network security appliances to Trend Micro Worry Free Business Security, Trend Office Scan, to Microsoft Software Assurance or purchases of new seats.
Chances are also good you are buying your licensing from a vendor who may have originally installed the equipment and they could be charging you for the licensing plus a fee to administer those licenses for you. The licensing is generally sold at the manufacturer’s suggested retail price.
If you would like another quote on your license renewals and sales, please contact us at 864.990.4748 x 201, or email info@homelandsecureit.com
We offer sales of products and licensing, as well as licensing renewals for Trend Micro, Cisco, Symantec, Microsoft and more! We never charge an administration fee.
One word of warning regarding “deep discount” licensing providers – if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. The markup on licensing is not very much, so if you find Microsoft Office Professional for 20% less than the retail, odds are, it is counterfeit product and will allow you no ability to upgrade or receive support.
Servosity - Now with continuous data protection goodness!
I’ve heard every excuse in the book for not backing up data. Too much trouble, too expensive, too time consuming, slows the computer down while the backup is running, etc. Until today.
I actually had a discussion in which the individual told me that backups were useless because they were not real-time, and that using a backup program like Symantec’s Backup Exec or even an online backup solution like Servosity was a scheduled backup and data had potential to be lost between the time you saved it, and the time it was backed up to the media or remote server.
Then, I dropped the bombshell… There is such a thing as “Continuous Backup Protection”. Symantec offers it of course, but this person was totally against a hardware solution that was on premise, so I told him about Servosity’s offering. Where you can have a regular backup taking place after hours, but for critical data, you could have that backup immediately when you save it! And, if you wanted, you could set it up to backup the entire system in near real-time! Kind of a mirror of your data, on a remote, secure server where each file that is saved or modified is synced with the remote system.
This is where cloud computing, or Software as a Service (SaaS) really shines! If you backup instantly, to a remote location, and a horrific incident occurs, say a tornado, fire, flood, or even theft of your equipment, you have access to it over the internet! A perfect solution for business continuity plans.
Servosity can protect a single workstation or a thousand, a fleet of mobile computers, your Mac OS X, Windows Servers, Exchange, SQL, Linux, and so much more!
If you would like more information about Servosity or other Continuous Backup solutions, please call us at 864-990-4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com
