The Dockside Band – Saturday May 21st at Break Time in Anderson, SC – Don’t miss it!

Please be sure to catch our band, The Dockside Band at Break Time in Anderson, SC on Saturday, May 21st!

I think we get started about 8:30, and it should be a blast!

Break Time is a “pool hall”, if you will, allowing 18 year olds to go in, but not to drink.  They have a full bar, and I believe Saturday Nights are their “Bikes & Babes” nights or something of that nature.

For more information about The Dockside Band, you can find us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/DocksideBand or http://www.TheDocksideBand.com  – You can also follow us on Twitter @DocksideBand.

Thanks for your support, we look forward to seeing you!

Cisco SPA525G2 VoIP desk phone pairs to your smartphone… Answer & call from either phone!

Simple people are easily amused I guess, but I am LOVING the Bluetooth features in the Cisco SPA525G2 SIP VoIP phone.

If you have one of these phones, you can associate it with your smartphone via Bluetooth and then do the following:

  • Make a call from your smartphone’s number, using your Cisco phone
  • Answer your incoming smartphone’s incoming calls from the Cisco phone
  • Download the contacts from your smartphone to the Cisco phone
  • See the signal strength and battery charge of your smartphone on the Cisco display
  • Charge your smartphone using the USB port

Want more information about the Cisco SPA series of business VoIP phones? Email info@homelandsecureit.com or call 864.990.4748. We are your Cisco Small Business Select Partners in Greenville & Upstate, SC!

 

SECURE IT ALERT: Usama Bin Laden Death Email Scam Warning Issued by the FBI

 

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Homeland Secure IT Alert

Homeland Secure IT Alert for Friday, May 13 2011

 

On May 04, the FBI issued a warning about links related to the death of Usama bin Laden.

The text from the FBI site follows:

 

Malicious Software Features Usama bin Laden Links to Ensnare Unsuspecting Computer Users 

The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) urges computer users to not open unsolicited (spam) e-mails, including clicking links contained within those messages. Even if the sender is familiar, the public should exercise due diligence. Computer owners must ensure they have up-to-date firewall and anti-virus software running on their machines to detect and deflect malicious software.

The IC3 recommends the public do the following:

  • Adjust the privacy settings on social networking sites you frequent to make it more difficult for people you know and do not know to post content to your page. Even a “friend” can unknowingly pass on multimedia that’s actually malicious software.
  • Do not agree to download software to view videos. These applications can infect your computer.
  • Read e-mails you receive carefully. Fraudulent messages often feature misspellings, poor grammar, and nonstandard English.
  • Report e-mails you receive that purport to be from the FBI. Criminals often use the FBI’s name and seal to add legitimacy to their fraudulent schemes. In fact, the FBI does not send unsolicited e-mails to the public. Should you receive unsolicited messages that feature the FBI’s name, seal, or that reference a division or unit within the FBI or an individual employee, report it to the Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov.

 

For more information, head on over to the www.fbi.gov/scams-safety/e-scams page…
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Homeland Secure IT Alert

This brings a tear to my eye! #awesome #CustomerSatisfaction #ComputerService

The following voice mail was left on my phone the other night:

Hey John, this is Mark C. over at <an Upstate clinic>, I just wanted to call you to tell you personally that Scott Chitwood is awesome! He is just awesome! He just spent a lot of time with me after work, helping me at work. I just wanted to tell you I appreciate you guys and, you guys are awesome and Scott is awesome! I brag about you guys all the time and I just wanted to tell you that. Thanks for doing what you do!

While I tend to agree that Scott is indeed awesome, it sure feels great when someone else takes time out of their life to share their thoughts with us!

We appreciate you too Mark!  Thank you!

If you are looking for computer service or repair in Upstate / Greenville, SC – don’t settle for less than awesome! Give us a call at 864.990.4748 o or email info@homelandsecureit.com

Business focused Motion CL900 tablet is now available for order

Does your business need something other than the Apple iPad and Android based tablets? The Motion CL900 is now available for order!

Motion CL90 Microsoft Windows 7 Tablet

Motion CL90 Windows 7 Tablet

Effective today, the Motion CL900, the latest addition to Motion’s suite of enterprise-built tablet PCs, is now available for shipping with the standard  4 week lead time from Authorized Motion Reseller Partners.

The CL900 is a rugged, lightweight and powerfully equipped tablet PC purposefully designed, developed and built for business. At a starting price of only $899, the latest Tablet PC from Motion packs performance, power and integrated features into an ultra-mobile and lightweight design.

The Motion CL900 comes standard with:

  • Bluetooth
  • WLAN
  • Integrated Front and Rear-Facing Cameras
  • Corning Gorilla Glass Display Protection

Additional options include:

  • Up to 2GB of RAM
  • Up to 62GB Solid State Drive (SSD)
  • Gobi Connectivity (WWAN)

There are also some supporting accessories available, including a unique desktop docking station and protective display film, as well as extended warranties.

Homeland Secure is happy to be able to offer these tablets to our Greenville / Upstate business clients! For more information, please contact us at 864.990.4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com

Bovinova 2011 made it into the Wall Street Journal!

A group of creative and daring Greenville / Upstate, SC individuals spent thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours of time to bring us Bovinova 2011…

What was it?  It was BIG!  Here’s a Wall Street Journal video that details it:  (Vegetarians and Vegans may want to skip this. hahah)

 

Alas, no mention of The Dockside Band playing, but hey, there’s a shot of me helping man-handle a cow!   Mooooooooo!

On Friday night, while the cooking was going on, TimTV performed his act with fire eating, and then the rain came & the wind blew… Allll night long!  Dozens watched on a webcam to see what was going on and to watch those crazy cooks like Jeff Bannister do their thing, while battling the weather… The next day, it cleared up just in time for hundreds of people to attend and enjoy some tasty beef!

Some of the sponsors of the event were www.WeServePapers.com, Swagclub, Network Controls, Whipp and Ken’s Plumbing.

One thing is for certain… Bovinova 2012 will be even more spectacular!

Cisco Small Business UC 300 VoIP system looks like a winner

The time has come to replace that old analog phone system in your small business and upgrade to VoIP (Voice over IP) technology! The prices have never been better.

One interesting option is the Cisco Small Business Unified Communications 300 series.  A few features include:

  • Lower communication expenses
  • Business-class calling and messaging
  • Full key system and small private branch exchange (PBX) features
  • Integrated wireless access point
  • A wide choice of phones for any business environment
  • Web-based management for easy phone changes
  • A return on your investment as your business grows and evolves
  • Peace of mind with the reliability you expect from Cisco

    • The UC320 system’s specific features:

  • Integrated voicemail and automated attendant and voicemail to email notification
  • IP-based telephony supporting Cisco SPA300 and SPA500 Series IP phones
  • SIP trunking support for clear, high-quality voice services and telecommunications cost savings
  • Interoperable with up to 12 public switched telephone network (PSTN) lines (FXO)
  • Built-in 802.11b/g/n wireless access point lets employees stay connected to voice or data
  • 4-port Gigabit Ethernet (1000 Mbps) switch with VLAN support, to connect devices or expand
  • Gigabit Ethernet WAN port to connect your office to the Intern
  • Support for up to 24 employees

    • If this sounds of interest to your Greenville / Upcountry business, please give Homeland Secure IT a call at 864.990.4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com. We are a Cisco Small Business Select Partner offering sales, support and consultation!

    Cisco IOS potentially susceptible to two zero day vulnerabilities

    SecurityFocus has two posts indicating that Cisco IOS 15.0 is vulnerable to attackers.

    Both are DoS (Denial of Service) issues and at this time there is no solution being offered from Cisco to correct the problem.

    Should your network be non-responsive, you could attempt to reboot your Cisco device to restore connectivity.

    The original posts are as follows:

    Cisco IOS UDP Denial of Service Vulnerability

    Cisco IOS SNMP Message Processing Denial Of Service Vulnerability

    Homeland Secure IT is a Cisco partner and can apply the IOS updates when they become available. We are also partners with and offer sales & support of SonicWall, WatchGuard and other firewall/router manufacturers. If this issue becomes of concern for you or your business, we can provide alternative products which are not vulnerable.  In Greenville / Upstate SC, call 864.990.4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com

    Aaron’s rent-to-own computers may have come complete with value-added spyware

    Security PadlockIt seems that not a day goes by that we don’t hear stories of how this person or that company had a data breach and information was leaked outside their walls, but in the news the last couple days is something far more sinister than someone losing data because of a hacker or accidentally installing malicious software.

    ABC Action News has a story entitled, “Suit against PC renter raises privacy questions” which tells the story of a couple from Wyoming who have filed a suit against Aaron’s Inc., a company which offers computers on a rent-to-own basis.

    The couple got one of those rent-to-own computers and late last year the manager of their local Aaron’s arrived to repossess said computer due to a mixup. While in the process of trying to sort everything out, the manager showed a picture of the husband using the computer to the couple. The picture was presumably taken by software installed on the computer which allows Aaron’s to activate the webcam, disable the computer, etc.

    It will come as no surprise that this has resulted in a lawsuit.

    If Aaron’s has done this, it makes you wonder how many other retailers, maybe even manufacturers have done the same. In security circles, a topic of conversation is the potential for a manufacturer to distribute large numbers of computers with built-in spyware, laying dormant until activated.

    It’s easy to see why many businesses and individuals will wipe a brand new computer and load their own install on it before putting it to use… Of course, this assumes that the install distributions and applications are free from spyware from their developers. Here we go with the “But I use Open Source and know what my software contains” comments, but, honestly, how many people actually pour over tens of thousands of lines of code?

     

     

    2

    Deleting system files before you leave a job is not a nice thing to do, and likely illegal!

    I’ve said this before, but I think I will say it again. Should you leave a job and have personal files on your system, sure, by all means, delete your PERSONAL files, that’s okay, right?

    Maybe…  In fact, laws on the books that state that everything you do at work is property of the employer, however, I am not a lawyer, so I won’t get into that.  What I WILL harp on is that if you do decide to delete a folder containing *your* personal files, not files belonging to the soon-to-be-ex-employer, then everything should be okay, but when you cross the line and either delete *everything* you can, including important system files, or possibly use a “secure wipe” application to write 1s and 0s to the drive, or even attempt to format a drive, then you have moved from protecting your privacy to destruction of property, malicious mischief, and a whole plethora of laws that cover this.

    There is an entire field dedicated to recovering data intentionally deleted or destroyed. These “forensic” technicians are very good at it and also come with a hefty price tag. So, if you should happen to delete files, and it causes your former employer to enlist the assistance of an expert in recovery, then you can expect the associated costs to be passed on to you.

    My advice is as follows:

    If you are at work, why not work? Try to keep your personal files and emails totally off the business network. Use your Android or iPhone to read emails, or optionally web based email (gmail) if your company policy allows accessing external email accounts via the web on work computers.

    Failing that, keep all your non-work email in a folder named something like “John’s Personal Email”, and personal files in a similarly named folder. Upon leaving, delete those and ONLY those folders.

    What about your browser cache, all those cookies, auto-logged on sites, etc? Well, if your personal life did not intertwine with work, then you wouldn’t have this problem, but now you do, so what to do?  You COULD empty the cache, or you could use a tool like “CCleaner”, but those will remove legit work-related data too. Of course you could have enabled privacy mode and attempted to browse without leaving a trace, but you didn’t.

    Okay, so just what CAN be recovered should you decide to delete your files and email before you leave?

    Depending on how the Exchange server is configured, your mail may be backed up, possibly archived, forever, so even if you delete your mail today, last night’s backup got it all up until it ran.

    Your desktop may be backed up as well, and it is possible that you do not even know it is happening. More and more businesses are opting for nightly, weekly or monthly imaging of all PCs.  Some computers are set to sync the documents folders to a centralized server.

    And there’s always the chance that an employee will FEEL you did something bad, even if you had no intent to defraud them of their data and they will hire someone like me and my company, Homeland Secure IT to retrieve data from the hard drive. As I write this post, I am doing that for a new client in a similar situation.

    Just what can we recover? Most everything. A “DELETE” doesn’t get it. Actually, we have successfully recovered files from a hard drive that had a “secure wipe” performed on it.

    If your business needs data recovery services, please contact us in the Greenville / Upstate, SC area at 864.990.4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com – If it’s there, we’ll get it.