3 Simple Steps to Online Security

Being the tech geek of the family, I’m too often asked to help “clean” computers of viruses or malware. Many of these incidents can be avoided with a couple common-sense tactics.

Recently a friend of mine had her yahoo account compromised. The result: emails sent to all of her friends offering a free iPad and the successful deletion of her contacts and emails. She shared her mishap online and her shout out fetched sympathetic and other less than ideal responses.

So, I decided to share my recommendations for the not-so-technical…and now I’ll share them with you.

1. Password Security is Essential
Simply changing your password isn’t the fix. If you must use the same password across multiple online services as many people do, be sure to change it globally across all of your accounts. Hackers have much bigger things in mind than simply spamming your friends.  If they gain access to one account they will in turn try to access other popular online services including email and financial providers.

For those of you with many online services like email, banking, Facebook, etc. If you can’t remember a different password for each service (who can?), can you at least remember three?

Create at least three different passwords.  One for each of the following types of online activity:

• email and public services
• banking and financial services
• business/work services

For increased security, try to have more than one password for your banking accounts. This approach will create boundaries and limit your exposure if one of your passwords is compromised.

When selecting a password, try to make it as complex as possible, but still able to be remembered.  Don’t use pet names or anniversaries. Try to use a combination of letters, numbers and punctuation. Punctuation makes it exponentially harder for hackers to guess your password since it creates a larger character set.  To generate a list of random passwords, check out this tool. If you don’t like the first batch, just refresh your browser.

Note that some sites will not allow you to use punctuation in your password. A helpful alternative is to substitute punctuation with an underscore where needed.

2. Avoid e-Cards
I know it is gratifying to receive those flashy greetings from friends and family. The problem is, interspersed within the legitimate e-cards, are the wolves in sheep’s clothing. These e-cards appear harmless but are one of the biggest points of entry for hackers. The major objective of these is to capture your passwords as you type. Often, your keystrokes are sent to remote servers for inspection and potentially used to extract passwords.

3. Avoid Pop-Up Windows Warning of a Virus
The objective is the same: to get your passwords! This time, they have taken a different approach. First, they are trying to convince you that you have a virus on your computer and then offer a faux anti-virus for free. The issue here is that the so-called anti-virus they’re offering often has a similar keylogger as the e-cards. For prevention, always make sure you have a legitimate anti-virus installed.

Even with the best anti-virus and anti-spyware tools, over time, stuff manages to get through. Here are two good and free tools to scan your computer, if you think it’s infected:

• HouseCall
• Anti-Malware PRO

Elements of a Successful Kiosk Implementation: What Should You Ask Before You Begin?

Who’s on your team? It’s essential to assemble a seasoned, qualified, team to make your implementation a success. You’ll need a group that has all the necessary skills and works collaboratively to make your kiosk solution effective.

Do you have all the team members in place to make your kiosk deployment as successful as it could be? Managing, implementing, and deploying a kiosk solution is more complex than it seems at first glance.

Typically, one individual vendor does not provide the complete gamut of services necessary to complete your project.  Success requires multiple, dedicated teams, covering these five major areas:

• Hardware
• Front-end Software Development / User Interface
• Back-end Software Development / Remote Management
• Enclosure Design and Fabrication
• Field Services

The first step in the right direction involves selecting the vendor to lead the project. Choose wisely, the vendor you select needs to have good connections in the business. Often, you’ll pick one point person who offers a stable, existing network of providers who have a history of working well together.

Make sure you have all of your questions answered regarding who they work with, why they partner with them, and how they pick their team. Your lead vendor should always be transparent and willing to address your questions. Then, you’ll know exactly what you’re paying for and who it’s coming from.

If you choose a lead vendor well, you’ll be able to control costs. You’ll also have a reliable contact to get all the details about what’s happening with your project.

Cloud Computing : “To Which Cloud?”

“To the cloud” has become a well-known cloud computing catchphrase. It’s popular due to advertising campaigns launched by Microsoft, but also because it challenges the user to think of the cloud first and traditional storage second.

3 main concerns that users have about cloud computing security are:

1. “How do I know that my information is secure?”
2. “Who owns what’s in the cloud?”
3. “Will the service be reliable?”

Recent outages at Amazon Web Services left Netflix, Reddit, and Foursquare without services for about an hour, confirming that users’  reliability concerns are legitimate.

When you’re familiar with accessing information from a physical location you own, it’s difficult to feel comfortable handing over the keys to another provider. However, many companies are making well-informed decisions to use cloud computing because of its efficiency and ability to increase the mobility of data.

3 leading, widely used, cloud computing options today are:

1. Physical
2. Virtual
3. Physical/Virtual hybrid

In our use of the cloud, we’re finding that it’s hard to compare apples to oranges. When evaluating each of the above options, you’ll need to consider whether you’d like to be single-tenant or multi-tenant. The cloud computing offerings available also vary in price, features, and benefits.

Whether clients want more information about the differences between these cloud computing solutions, or their associated pricing differences, we’re their go-to subject matter expert. Our clients continually look to us to help them define their next generation solution.

Stay tuned for more fundamental terminology that will assist in your selection of a cloud computing venture for your business. In this case, “To the right cloud,” may be the hottest destination around.