Stolen health care laptop computer contained thousands of patient records… Another case for encryption!

Notebook computer thiefAnother day, another stolen computer in the news. This time the laptop computer stolen contained close to 10,000 Hartford Hospital and VNA HealthCare patient records.

A spokesperson for the Hartford, CT group has confirmed that the data included “names, Social Security numbers, Medicade and Medicare numbers, diagnosis and treatment records and other information.” and that the data was not encrypted, though there has been no indication that the information has been misused at this point. You can read the story here.

No matter what your computer contains, with theft on the rise, you may wish to consider encryption of files, folders or the entire hard drive and any removable media (USB external drives, flash drives).

Encryption is affordable, easy to use and will help secure sensitive data, in addition to keeping your business compliant with regulations and laws that cover your industry.

If you would like more information about how encryption can work for your business, corporation or even your personal computer, netbook, laptop, notebook, tablet or server, please call us at 864.990.4748 or use the handy CONTACT link in the navigation bar.

 

 

 

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Save big on a new computer for your student thanks to the 2012 SC Tax Holiday!

Sales of new computers ramps up quickly this time of year due to students returning to school. And this coming weekend will likely bring the most sales of computers that we have seen this year thanks in part to the South Carolina 2012 Sales Tax Holiday which starts August 3, 2012 and continues through August 5, 2012.

That’s right….   NO SALES TAX on any computer (workstation, netbook, laptop, notebook, tablet) or computer equipment that is to be used by a student!

Homeland Secure IT in Greenville, SC wants to help you make the most of the weekend even though our doors are closed on Saturday and Sunday. In order to do so, you can call or email us, or use the contact form from our navigation bar and we will happily help determine the perfect computer for your student. Or, you can contact us with an exact model number.

We will then give you a quote and prepare an invoice for you over the weekend, during the sales tax holiday, and you can pay us with a credit card. So the sale will take place on the weekend, but we can order the computer for you on Friday and have it here bright and early on Monday morning.

We are authorized partners with and resellers of the biggest names in computers, including HP, Dell, Lenovo, Seneca Data / Nexlink, Toshiba, Asus, Acer, Samsung, Sony and others.

In most cases, we can match the price from local and national stores, and sometimes even beat them, all the while providing you with complete service and free consultation.

Let us know how we can serve you!

Microsoft Security Advisory related to Microsoft Exchange and Fast Search Server 2010 for SharePoint

The following update was released today regarding a previous security advisory. This update is v1.1 in which they revised the workaround titles – otherwise, it is the same as it was.

Please insure your Microsoft products are updated at all times.

—

********************************************************************
Title: Microsoft Security Advisory Notification
Issued: July 25, 2012
********************************************************************

Security Advisories Updated or Released Today ==============================================

 

* Microsoft Security Advisory (2737111)
– Title: Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange and FAST Search
Server 2010 for SharePoint Parsing Could Allow Remote Code
Execution
– http://technet.microsoft.com/security/advisory/2737111
  – Revision Note: V1.1 (July 25, 2012): Revised the workaround
titles for clarity. There were no changes to the workaround
steps.

If you have questions about this particular Microsoft Security Advisory or any network or computer security concerns, please call upon us in the Greenville or Upstate SC area at 864.990.4748 or use the CONTACT link in the navigation bar.

We offer break-fix IT support in addition to managed services in Greenville / Upstate SC!

More and more, IT support businesses are pushing managed services, and with good reason; many issues can be resolved before they happen, and the relationship is about maintaining an operational network instead of operating in a continual crisis mode.

While we would love to move each client into a managed services agreement, it might not be right for everyone. That is why Homeland Secure IT wants to offer the best of both worlds, so we happily maintain an on-call, break-fix computer and network support relationship with many clients here in the Upstate.

If your server goes down and you do not have a service agreement with an IT support or service provider, you can call on us and we will be there, whether it is for a single desktop with a virus, a malfunctioning network switch, failed firewall, or your Microsoft Exchange Server has crashed, we can help! Call us at 864.990.4748 with your emergency needs.

Break-fix still works for small businesses and home users, so we don’t turn our nose up at it, but for those who are serious about reducing downtime and want to be able to budget for computer services, use our contact link above, or call us for information about scheduled maintenance and managed services.

 

Servosity bare metal recovery could help your IT support provider get a dead server back online fast! #BackTheStuffUp

Our cloud backup partner, Servosity, has included a bare metal restore capability in the most recent releases of their backup client software.

What IS “bare metal recovery”? It is part of the Servosity Disaster Recovery solution which allows an IT service provider or your IT support department to restore a crashed machine in a matter of minutes, even to dissimilar physical hardware or even virtual machines (VMware or Microsoft Hyper-V).

Servosity has two different versions, one is DR Server, for server environments and the other is DR Desktop, for, you guessed it, desktop and laptop computers. Both work by backing up a working system image to external media such as a USB hard drive. Then, in your time of need, a completely dead system can be recovered to a brand new machine, even if that machine has a different processor or hardware configuration.

Features of Servosity DR:

  • – Bare Metal Recovery to Dissimilar hardware, VMWare, Hyper-V, and VirtualBox
  • – Local, Network, and Cloud Backup and Disaster Recovery
  • – Purpose built for MSPs and IT Resellers
  • – No Hardware Required
  • – Geographically Redundant SAS-70 Type II Cloud
  • – Recover a server, desktop, or laptop in just minutes
  • – Disaster Recovery with snapshots to the Network and Cloud every 15 minutes

As I write this, one of our non-profit clients has suffered a catastrophic event that caused the loss of their only server, which is responsible for handling multiple organizations under their umbrella. Functions such as data / file storage, Microsoft Exchange email hosting for both local and remote users, domain functions and security, anti-virus protection solution and printing are all offline. Yes, they have backups, including Servosity cloud storage and data on redundant hard drive array (RAID), however, the OS is completely destroyed and will need to be reinstalled from scratch.

Had this client utilized the Servosity DR function that permits bare metal recovery, we could have had them back online already.

This heartbreaking event has caused us to pause to reflect on how we can help our other clients.

Many businesses and individuals claim to be unable to backup due to expense, however, the old adage is true in every respect – “The most costly backup is the one you don’t perform”. So, to help make backups more affordable, we are now offering a “BACK THE STUFF UP!” special!

BACK THE STUFF UP!

To our current Servosity subscribers, we will provide you with an external USB hard drive of the appropriate size for your machines at cost, or use your provided USB drive and configure the Disaster Recovery at no cost for the labor to do so.

Don’t have Servosity? Not a problem! If you are willing to commit to a year of online backup, we will create a Servosity account for you, go to your Upstate location  (or you can bring your desktop or laptop to our office), download, install and configure the backup and the Disaster Recovery for you. You pay only for the Servosity backup storage and the USB hard drive which we will provide at our cost, or you can provide your own. The labor is on us.

Want to handle this yourself, have a large number of servers / workstations or maybe you’re not in the Upstate / Greenville area? We can ship a drive to your US location (you pay shipping and our cost) or you can provide your own, then we will talk you through the install and configuration or work on it from remote.

Don’t let another minute go by without backing up!

This solution supports Microsoft XP, Vista, and 7, Server 2003, Server 2008, Small Business Server 2011, Microsoft SQL Server 2000, 2005, 2008, Microsoft Exchange Server 2003, 2007, 2010, Microsoft SharePoint 2003, 2007, 2010 and more!

For more details, please call us TODAY at 864.990.4748 or use that contact link in the navigation bar. If Homeland Secure IT is not your IT support provider, consider us for all your Greenville / Anderson / Spartanburg computer and server support needs!

Computer hard drive prices predicted to remain high throughout 2012 and 2013

Seagate HarddriveHard drive prices have remained consistently high throughout 2012, but analysts predict they will do so through 2014.

This is due to the 2011 typhoon season and related flooding in Thailand that took major hard drive manufacturers offline and damaged factory facilities. Unfortunately, PC manufacturers saw the impending crisis and locked in contracts to insure they would be provided an adequate supply of drives, causing an across-the-board spike in prices at the register and outright shortages of supply.

Back in November 2011, I wrote an article that shows a visualization hard drive price inflation from before the flooding and after the flooding in Thailand. If you look again today, you will see that about this time last year (July through September) hard drives were 30 to 60 dollars cheaper than they are today, depending upon size.

There was a drop in prices in May of 2012, but still, the pricing remains consistently higher.

Bottom line: Spinning disk hard drives will likely continue to add costs to all computer equipment you purchase, whether it is a desktop, laptop, server, VoIP or video surveillance system for at least a year.

Obviously, machines such as NAS or SAN which have multiple hard drives may be many hundreds of dollars more expensive than they were a year ago too, but typical workstations and notebooks should only be 30 to 50 dollars higher. Again, the PC manufacturers have secured a lower unit price than end users will see if you are simply replacing a drive.

SSD (Solid State Drive) technology is dropping in price, and the lightning fast speeds may be exactly what it takes to motivate some of us into migrating towards them.

We can provide hard drives for your existing computers and replacement computers at competitive pricing for your business, so please do not hesitate to call us at 864.990.4748 with any questions you may have!

Symantec AV Update Responsible for Crashing Microsoft Windows computers

Symantec has issued an apology regarding the crashing of enterprise based Microsoft Windows XP computers last week.

Although the update was corrected quickly, it was not before many computers were affected. Hopefully your network was not one of those negatively impacted.

If you should find your business in the situation of computers blue screening, locking up or performing in a less than satisfactory manner, please call us as we provide quick response to remedy the situation anywhere in the Upstate (Greenville, Spartanburg, Anderson, Clemson, etc) area.  864.990.4748.

Yahoo data breach exposes 400,000 user names and passwords

Last month it was LinkedIn who was making the news due to a data breach that exposed millions of user names and passwords, and this month it is Yahoo.

It seems as though 400,000 user accounts and passwords have been exposed in the recently discovered breach, though it may be a while before the severity is truly known.

Our suggestion is to change passwords everywhere you might have used the same one as you used on Yahoo. In fact, just update your passwords.

If you are having a hard time keeping up with multiple sites, accounts and passwords, consider a password keeper or vault. Something like LastPass might work well for you.

Should you have questions about business computer or network security in the Greenville or Upstate SC area, please call upon us. 864.990.4748 or use the handy contact link above.

You really want to update your Microsoft Windows machines with the July patches

The National Cyber Awareness System released an alert yesterday, July 10, 2012 which mentions multiple vulnerabilities of a critical nature.

It is advisable to update your Microsoft based systems immediately to protect against these vulnerabilities. Should you require assistance with that in the Greenville or Upstate South Carolina area, we can assist, please call us at 864.990.4748 or use our contact link above.

Here’s the CERT Alert:

National Cyber Awareness System

Technical Cyber Security Alert TA12-192A

Microsoft Updates for Multiple Vulnerabilities

Original release date: July 10, 2012
Last revised: —
Source: US-CERT

Systems Affected

* Microsoft Windows
* Microsoft Internet Explorer
* Microsoft Office
* Microsoft Developer Tools
* Microsoft Server Software

Overview

Select Microsoft software products contain multiple  vulnerabilities.  Microsoft has released updates to address these  vulnerabilities.

Description

The Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary for July 2012 describes  multiple vulnerabilities in Microsoft software.  Microsoft has  released updates to address the vulnerabilities.

Impact

A remote, unauthenticated attacker could execute arbitrary code,  cause a denial of service, or gain unauthorized access to your  files or system.

Solution

Apply updates

Microsoft has provided updates for these vulnerabilities in the  Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary for July 2012, which describes  any known issues related to the updates.  Administrators are  encouraged to note these issues and test for any potentially  adverse effects.  In addition, administrators should consider using  an automated update distribution system such as Windows Server  Update Services (WSUS).  Home users are encouraged to enable  automatic updates.

References

* Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary for July 2012 –  <http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/security/bulletin/ms12-jul>

* Microsoft Windows Server Update Services –  <http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/wsus/default.aspx>

* Microsoft Update – <https://www.update.microsoft.com/>

* Microsoft Update Overview – <http://www.microsoft.com/security/updates/mu.aspx>

* Turn Automatic Updating On or Off –  <http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-vista/Turn-automatic-updating-on-or-off>

Revision History

July 10, 2012: Initial release