Email (is still) Like a Postcard

/in ,

Postcard
With all of the advancement in email servers, services, and cloud solutions, fundamentally, email is still like a postcard.

When you mail a postcard, the postal service will make its best attempt to get it delivered in a reasonable period of time.  While most postcards make it, occasionally a few get lost in the mail.

And while your message from vacation, your short message to a friend, or a quick thank you makes its travels, everybody that touches the postcard along the way can read it. Not that everybody, or even anybody will, but they can.

For the type of messages we send on postcards, we do not really care about privacy. Our email messages, however, often contain personal, sensitive, or corporate data that we want or need to keep private.

It is relatively easy for hackers to capture corporate data from emails as it travels across the public Internet. It is also easy for the staff at your MSP or IT service firm to read or intercept messages.

Yes, when we deploy Google Apps and other services, we put technology in place such as policy-based TLS encryption that helps mitigate risks and forced SLL encryption.  Many on-premise email servers have these features active as well.

But for many businesses, this is not enough. Government and industry regulatory requirements, including HIPAA, PCI, and PII, affect nearly every business with employees, that accepts credit cards, or keeps a customer file. Financial firms and publicly traded firms also face regulatory requirements from the SEC, FINRA, and Sarbanes/Oxley.

To meet increasing demands for data privacy and protection, you need message level encryption for at least those employees that deal with sensitive or protected information. If your solution is difficult to use, or inconvenient for recipients, employees will look to circumvent the system or opt not to encrypt messages, customers and partners will complain, and your business will suffer.

When looking at email encryption solutions, evaluate solutions that require little or no user involvement, make it easy for recipients to read encrypted messages, and work well on mobile devices. The good news, is that these solutions are affordable and can be deployed based on need.

For more information, contact us about selecting the right email encryption solution for you and your business.

 

Special Offer on Android Tablets / Play for Education Pilot Kits

/in

Nexus7
Working with a group of vendors and our distributors, we are pleased to offer qualifying districts* more than 50% off a comprehensive Android Tablet/Play for Education Pilot Kit.

With a retail value over $13,900, we are offering the kit on a first-come, first-serve basis for $6,480.

The Android Tablet/Play for Education Pilot Kit includes:

  • 30 Nexus 7 Tablets (16GB Model)
  • 30 Google Play for Education Management Licenses
  • 30 Higher Ground protective cases
  • 1 Ergotron Tablet Cart
  • 1 NEC Projector with DisplayNote Licenses
  • Deployment support from Cumulus Global and Google
  • Android Apps from Google’s Getting Started App Bundle
    • Explain Everything / Book Creator / We Video
      Tynker / Comic Strip It / Drawap
  • Professional Development from Educational Collaborators (2 teachers)

*As the number of Kits is limited, restrictions apply, including:

  • Limit one (1) kit per district
  • Sales are first-come, first serve
  • District student population must be at least 1,000 students
  • Offer is for new Android customers (30 or fewer existing Android tablets)
  • All sales subject to approval by Google.

—

For more information, please contact our EDU Team.  Or, click here to request pricing and a quote.

 

Ransomware Still Crippling “Protected” Networks

/in ,

cyrptovirus
The rate of infections from crypto-viruses and other ransom-ware continues to rise. Even networks with traditionally strong malware protection are getting caught.

And while with good backups in place, it is possible to recover without paying the ransom, the process time consuming, frustrating, and expensive.

We outline the reasons for the broad failure of anti-virus/malware protection software in this prior blog post, providing 5 failings of most antivirus solutions.

Now, we are offering a risk-free way to assess if your malware protection is up to par.

The Offer

We will install Webroot Secure Anywhere Endpoint Protection, a cloud-based malware protection service that avoids the 5 failings of other solutions, at no cost for 30 days. Based in the cloud, Webroot will not interfere with your current protections.

At the end of the 30 days, you will see what malware, if any, was caught by Webroot that your existing solution has missed.

If your existing solution is not up to par, and you want better protection, we can activate a full subscription to Webroot for you $18 per year per device or less (more than 25% off).

Simply contact us if you are willing to see if your protection is enough, or if you would like more information.

Extended Benefits of Cloud Computing

/in


A Case Study in Network Efficiency

Changing the names to protect identities, let’s take a look at NE Company’s network history and design.  NE Company currently has 4 locations. The company’s headquarters are located in a suburban business park along with a second facility hosting R&D and some engineering functions. The third location for software development is a few miles down the road; the fourth location is a distribution center that is an eight hour drive away, across two state lines.

Generation One:

When NE Company only had the HQ and out of state locations, they connected the offices using point to point leased lines. Internet access was available from both locations. Because of slow performance accessing files, NE Company installed a local file server in the distribution center. While having two file servers fixed the file performance issue, email still suffered from the central location, they occasionally experienced file duplication issues, and the solution was costly.

Generation Two:

As NE Company added locations, they initially stuck to the point-to-point model, creating a hub-and-spoke network. Performance was an issue, as was managing router configurations such that Internet traffic moved to the Internet locally while application, email, and file traffic stayed within the corporate network.

To improve performance and to reduce redundancy and costs, NE Company transitioned to a MPLS, or Multi-Protocol Labeled Switching network.  A single connection to each office could no route inter-office traffic and Internet traffic through a single pipe.

Granted, NE Company increased it’s wide area network capacity by more than 80% while cutting costs in half, but the operational limitations linger. The company’s email server is still centralized at HQ, as are most of the files, and hosting for the company’s web-based management system. Users face performance delays often. The company has added local file services at all locations, increasing user confusion as to file locations and how to access information. The additional file servers have also complicated data backup/recovery services, which now require more administrative time and attention.

As the workforce has become more mobile, access to data and applications has driven an expensive investment in VPN services. VPN concentrators, client software, and management have been an expensive addition to the environment. While providing access, performance fails to meet reasonable user expectations and the support cost is high.

Generation Cloud:

If NE Company took a cloud-centric view of computing, email and file services would move to the cloud.  The company could move its on-premise CRM system to the vendor’s SaaS service, and could host its custom web-based management system in a cloud-based server environment.

In doing so, NE Company would

  • Provide all of its employees with equal access to resources and better performance
  • Replace the complex, managed MPLS network with direct Internet access connections at each office
  • Reduce wide area networking costs by nearly 80%
  • Provide direct access to files and applications from on-premise and mobile employees
  • Eliminate the need for most VPN services
  • Reduce its server footprint
  • Simplify the backup/recovery services
  • Reduce IT Admin time on basic infrastructure operations and maintenance

Conclusion

The impact of moving from on-premise systems to the cloud-based solutions is never as simple as the specific application or service. By looking at the integration points and indirect or secondary impacts, you can better understand the nature of the migration. As important, you can identify potential savings and other benefits as a result of the move.

Consider Cloud File Services

/in


When we talk to businesses about moving into the cloud, we often focus on the cloud-based, managed file services. We see how trendy file sync-and-share services have become as IT continues its love-hate relationship with consumerization.  We also see how simply putting a traditional file server in a cloud-hosted environment does not reap the benefits many expect.

For us, a managed cloud file service provides users with secure access to files in a central service, from any Internet-connected device.  “Managed” means that your IT admins and/or data managers are able to monitor and control the access rights, exposures, permissions, and ownership of information stored within the service. “Managed” also means your data is protected from user error (or intention) as well as hardware/software issues.

While file-sync-and-share is one type of cloud file service, it is not the only form of cloud file service. 

As you think of how to best move file storage into cloud file services, consider your business and technical needs.

File-sync-and-share is easy to deploy, but implies that you will have multiple copies of data on different devices, each of which will then require protection.  File-sync-and-share also creates a peer-to-peer sharing service, in which users can get lost among shared folders and unclear ownership.

Other peer-to-peer solutions, including OneDrive and Google Drive, can cause similar user confusion as the number of users, or the number of documents, increases.  And while peer-to-peer file services where the rage back in 1998 with the release of Windows for Workgroups, most businesses have been running on centralized file servers for at least the past decade.

A managed cloud file service can provide a working environment similar to an on-premise file server. When structured properly a managed cloud file service can provide:

  • A single location for data (no need to replicate to local machines)
  • Centralized ownership of file space, libraries, and directory hierarchies
  • Centralized administration of access rights and permissions, by user or group
  • The ability to provide shared folders/directories for company, department, or project team work, along with personal folders/directories for individual activities
  • Unified search across shared and individual file spaces
  • Secure access from any device — PC, Mac, iOS, Android, Chrome, etc.
  • Administrative ability to monitor and audit permissions and access by individuals and applications
  • Data protection in the form of versioning and backup/recovery systems
  • Integration of additional metadata, document management, and workflow management tools to reinforce and accelerate business processes

If your cloud storage is not giving you the advantages of a managed cloud file service, let us know. We are happy to review your environment and suggest alternatives.

 

 

Beyond reducing

A Favorite Local Event

/in

Corridor9ExpoLogo
One of our favorite local events is coming up this week!

On Thursday, April 2nd, join us at the Corridor Nine Chamber’s Open for Business Expo 2015.

As in past years, we expect more then 1,200 business leaders from the MetroWest and Central Massachusetts communities to pack the Doubletree Hotel in Westborough.

We will be there, in the main hall, demonstrating how we help small and mid-size companies thrive and succeed with cloud computing solutions and Google Apps for Work.

Admission is free, and you can register online in advance.

While we service customers throughout the US and Canada, we always enjoy participating in local business groups and events near our headquarters and offices.

Windows 2003 End of Life: You DO Have Options

/in

NoWindows
On July 14, 2015, Microsoft officially halts support for Windows Server 2003 and will no longer provide security updates or other patches.

While Microsoft wants and expects you to jump forward to Windows Server 2012, this is not your only option.

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” – Albert Einstein 

Upgrading from Windows Server 2003 to 2012 R2 is more than just upgrading your operating system, it is a wholesale replacement of your infrastructure. Industry insiders call it a “fork lift upgrade”, as you need new server hardware, your new edition of Windows Server, and new Client Access Licenses (CALs) — all of which must be 64-bit. And with the new OS version, you will need to upgrade or replace anti-virus, backup/recovery, and other software and systems tied to old environment.

And for what? A new version file server that gives you the same capabilities as your current file server. Granted, Windows 2012 has new capabilities, but if you needed or wanted them, you would have already made the move.

“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.”  ― Henry Ford

You DO Have Options

We are the first to acknowledge that cloud-based solutions are the right choice for every business in every situation. Cloud computing, however, has matured to the point that you should always give it serious consideration.

Imagine an environment for your employees where:

  • Email is fast, efficient, and reliable; protected from spam; and easily accessible from phones and tablets
  • Users can manage their calendars and appointments on their computers, phones, and laptops, and can share calendars with project teams
  • Files are stored in a central, secure location, but are securely accessible from desktops, laptops, phones, and tablets with out burdensome and slow VPN or remote desktop tools
  • Data is protected by multiple daily backups
  • User can share files and work together without endless streams of emails and attachments
  • Users can communicate and share ideas within documents, via text, by voice, or by video conferencing with screen sharing — for no additional cost
  • Legacy desktop and server applications are accessible through a web browser
  • Desktops, laptops, phones, and tablets are protected from viruses and malware with a known-risk database up to 500 times greater than your current anti-virus solution
  • Users can work on laptops costing less than $400 that if lost, damaged, or stolen, will not allow access to your sensitive data

If a some (or all) of these sound interesting to you, if you want your team to work more productively, or if you simply want to grow your business instead of your business’ IT, let us know.

Maybe the cloud is right for you.

—

Chrome Support for Windows XP Ends

/in ,

As announced by Google in October, 2013, Chrome support for Windows XP will end on April 30, 2015 — a full year after Microsoft discontinued support for the Windows XP operating system.

This means:

  • Chrome will continue to function on Windows XP, but no new features will be added.  Chrome will continue to get updates on Windows XP until (at least) the end of 2015.
  • Google will no longer provide Google for Work support for any issue related to Chrome on Windows XP, including Google Apps for Work, Education, and Government. If you have an issue on an XP machine with Chrome, you will need to reproduce the issue on a supported platform to receive support.

That fact that Google will still provide updates, means Chrome users on Windows XP systems will continue to have a secure and reliable browser, with some additional time to move to a supported platform.

 

 

 

Other Reasons to use Drive for Work

/in

When most of our clients compare Google Apps for Work with Drive for Work, they focus on the two most visible differences:

  • Drive for Work gives you unlimited Drive storage, instead of the 30GB per user for Gmail and Drive in Google Apps for Work.
  • Drive for Work includes Google Apps Vault for email (and, in the future, document) archiving and e-discovery services.

While these differences are enough for many companies to step up to Drive for Work, some of the less visible differences may prove more valuable in the long term.

Expanded Reporting

Google Apps for Work offers a limited number of audit and admin reports that cover basic statistics about user accounts and activities.  Drive for Work, already has an extended suite of admin and audit reports, giving you greater visibility into how various services are being used, including configurable audit reports for Drive.

Expanded APIs

Most companies will never program to the Google Apps Application Program Interfaces (APIs). Third party administration, security, and productivity applications, however, rely on these APIs to access and manage data in Google Apps. With Google’s commitment to expand the API suite for Drive for Work, third party applications, including BetterCloud, CloudLock, Backupify and others, will offer additional features and services with Drive for Work than they can with Apps for Work. As a customer, you get a more robust computing environment.

Granted, these additional capabilities alone may not, today, warrant the additional cost of Drive for Work. Yet, these features are indicative of a trend for broader features and investment in Drive for Work. If you need or want archiving and/or additional storage and are considering a la carte upgrades, consider the strategic impact of expanded reporting and APIs. They may just tip the scales in favor of Drive for Work.

 

5 Reasons a Crypto Virus May Ruin Your Week

/in ,

Most businesses run some form of malware protection on their servers, desktops, and laptops. And yet, crypto viruses like cryptowall and cryptolocker still hit these “protected” networks.

Here are 5 reasons your virus protection may fail when it comes to crypto viruses:

1) Limited Virus Profiles

Most anti-virus systems run locally on each device. They compare file changes with patterns related to known viruses as a means of identifying malware. The pattern, or definition, database, however is typically only a few GB in size. With this limitation, it is impossible to detect the many variant forms for viruses.

2) Periodic Virus Updates

Most locally installed anti-virus systems update periodically by connecting to a local distribution server or the anti-virus software vendor’s servers.  Because updates are not real-time, there can be a gap of hours or even days between when your system is unable to detect new viruses or variants.

3) Behavior Analysis

Chances are good that your anti-virus software has some intelligence or heuristics that identify behaviors as likely malware. Chances are equally good that this analysis is triggered by file actions. Few anti-virus solutions monitor systems for virus-like behavior (such as an application rapidly opening and closing files) that are not triggered by user action.

4) Quarantine instead of Rollback

Most anti-virus solutions quarantine files that have known viruses or are likely to be infected. With crypto viruses, however, quarantining the file with the virus does nothing to protect or recover the files that have already been encrypted.

5) Device-Specific

Most anti-virus solutions focus on PC and MAC platforms. But what happens when a virus is saved on a mobile device syncing with your server?

Fortunately, you do have options. Cloud based anti-virus solutions can overcome all five of these limitations. We offer a cloud-based solution that:

  • Has a virus definition database over 2 TB (2,000 GB) in size
  • Updates instantly and continuously when devices are connected to the Internet
  • Analyzes behavior of the system and processes, not just those triggered by human action
  • Will rollback suspicious activity, undoing damage before it can spread
  • Has available protection across MAC, PC, Android, and iOS platforms from a single web-based console.

Here’s your Challenge

As a cloud-based solution with a minimal local footprint, we can install our service without interfering with your current anti-virus software.

Let us install a 30 free, no-obligation trial and see for yourself if your current anti-virus solution is giving you the protection you want or need.

To learn more about your options, or to request a trial, contact us today.