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SBS 2003 End of Support: The Pros and Cons of Outlook 365

SBS end of SupportSeptember 21, 2004: Windows Small Business Server’s success and soaring adoption rate are notable and is selling itself. In less than 1 year of deployment, Windows Small Business Server 2003 has outsold its predecessor Windows Small Business Server 2000 by 200 percent.

July 5, 2012: Microsoft end-of-life for the SBS family, with extended support available.

July 14, 2015: Microsoft will end extended IT support for Windows Server 2003 and Windows Small Business Server (SBS) 2003.

YOU HAVE LESS THAN 5 MONTHS TO MAKE YOUR MOVE!

Small Business Server 2003: A security disaster waiting to happen

Microsoft will be terminating services  that provide crucial security updates and patches for SBS 2003. Much like the Windows XP termination this past April, the server can still run, but the product is off the shelf both commercially and in terms of Microsoft’s internal support, making it very vulnerable. It is a security disaster waiting to happen!

The problems in upgrading a server are huge, and the popular mad-dash-switch strategy is not feasible for companies relying heavily on fully-operational 24/7 server activity. The whole infrastructure of a system, in many cases carefully built up over years, needs to be reworked – and this takes time.

Jump to Outlook 365?  Get the Pros and Cons

Is it time to make the jump to the cloud and move to Outlook 365? This is a fully virtual Microsoft Office system with unprecedented access flexibility from desktop, mobile, and tablet. It has 25 GB of storage per user, full Microsoft office suite, and security features galore!

While such a Cloud service is a good option, it may not be the right option for you. Updating servers with new servers is still very viable. There are plenty of pros and cons associated with each option, and your decision is very unique to your business and how you operate.

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The Scary Malware you Probably Don’t Need to Worry About – YET

An article in pcworld.com this week entitled “Destroying your hard drive is the only way to stop this super-advanced malware” caught my attention. And with good reason. Upon reading the article two things stood out to me.

    1. The world of cyber espionage is a scary place and capabilities are getting too advanced that I really fear for the future and hope that anti-attack efforts and businesses are working just as hard as the attackers to stop this acceleration.
    2. Unless you are a country with suspected ties to terrorism or a perceived threat to world security, you probably don’t need to worry about this malware…yet.

It seems this malware is so sophisticated that it is only being used by an extremely advanced agency (I will not speculate) to attack countries including Iran, Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and China. Targets in those countries included the military, telecommunications, embassies, government, research institutions and Islamic scholars, according to Kaspersky Labs.

I tell you not to worry about this because I assume the readers of my blog are relatively decent and good people trying to run businesses or IT departments within said businesses.  But I say “yet” because if this can be done now, it is only further indication that the technology to attack is getting so advanced so rapidly, it is only a matter of time until this capability is in more people’s hands.

I stand by my advice of blogs’ past:  While it is important to have a sound data protection plan in place, you must not assume it is ever completely un-penetrable. You must, Must, MUST have a disaster recovery plan in place with frequent and redundant data backup and encryption wherever necessary and possible.

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Here is the article to read for yourself:

A cyberespionage group with a toolset similar to ones used by U.S. intelligence agencies has infiltrated key institutions in countries including Iran and Russia, utilizing a startlingly advanced form of malware that is impossible to remove once it’s infected your PC.

Kaspersky Lab released a report Monday that said the tools were created by the “Equation” group, which it stopped short of linking to the U.S. National Security Agency.

The tools, exploits and malware used by the group—named after its penchant for encryption—have strong similarities with NSA techniques described in top-secret documents leaked in 2013.

Countries hit the most by Equation include Iran, Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and China. Targets in those countries included the military, telecommunications, embassies, government, research institutions and Islamic scholars, Kaspersky said.

Kaspersky’s most striking finding is Equation’s ability to infect the firmware of a hard drive, or the low-level code that acts as an interface between hardware and software.

The malware reprograms the hard drive’s firmware, creating hidden sectors on the drive that can only be accessed through a secret API (application programming interface). Once installed, the malware is impossible to remove: disk formatting and reinstalling the OS doesn’t affect it, and the hidden storage sector remains.

“Theoretically, we were aware of this possibility, but as far as I know this is the only case ever that we have seen of an attacker having such an incredibly advanced capability,” said Costin Raiu, director of Kaspersky Lab’s global research and analysis team, in a phone interview Monday.

Read the rest of the article HERE.

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5 Tips for Creating Disaster Recovery Plans

Disaster Recovery57% of all small businesses do not have a disaster recovery plan ( yes 57% – you are not misreading). Now it’s true that most small businesses like yours will not experience a natural disaster that threatens your physical premises. However, it’s kind of like buying home owner’s insurance. You probably will never need it. But you may need it once, and it’s a lifesaver that one time you do need it!  Without a database security plan, you’ll significantly hurt your profitability at best. And at worst, you’ll lose your entire business.

What should you do?

Let me explain with these tips:

1. What is a “disaster?”

When most businesses refer to this term, they mean a flood, fire, or tornado – something physically destructive. However, other “disasters” exist which are not physical but nonetheless cause great damage and disruption to your business. Power outages, computer hardware problems, telecommunications issues, and software problems all cause a ton of trouble. Or a computer virus. How will you respond to those situations?

2. A Couple of Important Questions to Ask Yourself :

To determine whether other situations qualify as “disasters,” you should ask yourself these questions:

    • If any of these other events, like power outages, happened, how long could you stay out of production and not suffer catastrophic revenue loss, or worse?
    • What industry regulations, if any, govern disaster recovery for your business? 

3. Is Your Leadership Prepared?

All leadership and key employees should know precisely what to do when disaster strikes. That’s a must have. And, it’s nice to have backup personnel trained and ready. That’s not a must – but you should have them prepared.

4. Designate a “Disaster Recovery” Crisis Management Team:

If you’re a larger company, this could be several teams. If you’re a smaller company, all you need are different personnel to handle various areas of responsibility. Whoever ends up forming this team, the senior leaders on it must declare the actual crisis, communicate the initial objectives, and then guide the rest of the recovery. Other personnel on the team should build the specific plan that oversees the crisis, assign responsibilities to appropriate personnel, and manage the plan hands-on as recovery happens.

5. Evaluate Your Disaster Recovery Plan:

Let’s be clear – we could write a whole serious of blog posts on evaluating your disaster recovery plans. But we’ll give you the quick version here:

    • Test it once per year
    • Inventory your equipment, examine readiness, and see if you have any preparation gaps
    • Give everyone in your company a copy of the plan and get feedback
    • Make sure your senior management participates in the process and is ready to commit the time and financial resources to do so

Is disaster recovery planning something you don’t know how to do? That’s okay – you can always hire an IT support team to help you. It could be the difference between your business succeeding and failing.

For more information about Data Backup and Disaster Recovery, download our eguide:

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Advice on Anthem Data Breach: Monitor Your Children!

Data BreachThe news of the Anthem BC/BS data breach spread fast. Faster than Anthem seems to be responding to clients about it, unfortunately. But not as fast as the attackers have started to use the information stolen. Reports have already surfaced of phishing emails from the attackers to victims.

There is a lot of advice being offered by everyone (except Anthem) on what should be done. Perhaps it is out of embarrassment – How could one of the largest health insurance providers have all that information un-encrypted and stolen? They have put together a FAQ for customers, but it is void of much information, and seems to indicate it will be weeks before customers are notified of steps they should take to protect themselves.

In the meantime, there are many websites offering advice, from monitoring your credit reports, to freezing your credit, to watch for fraudulent filing of your income taxes. All of this is very scary. But the most bone-chilling of them all comes from the advice at www.pcworld.com:

Monitor your children
Kevin Duggan, CEO of Camouflage Software, says, “Anthem should be of interest because of who will likely bear the brunt of the damage: young children and the elderly.”

Children in particular don’t actively use credit or apply for loans, so they’re less likely to discover fraudulent activity. Duggan points out, “a five-year-old child today will not likely realize their credit has been destroyed by fraudulent activity until it comes time for them to use it to apply for student loans in about 13 years.”

This Experian site contains a lot of helpful explanations and information about how to manage and protect a minor’s credit history. The challenge is that there is nothing to monitor until or unless the child has a credit history, and according to Experian there are reasons that you would not want to preemptively establish and freeze a credit history in your child’s name.

In any case, you have everything to gain by checking regularly to make sure no credit history has been created using your child’s Social Security number.

Have concerns about your company’s security?

Don’t let your company become another victim of attackers like Anthem.  Call the security experts at Great Lakes Computer for advice and information about our Data Security products for your business.

Learn more about our Data Security Product Suite

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5 (More) Deadly IT Support Sins SMB’s Commit

data security and remote monitoringMost small businesses experience IT problems that are totally preventable had they taken the correct action in the first place. Who knows how many millions (billions?) of dollars get wasted each year because of this? Yet not taking wise action jeopardizes your entire business.

Here are some of the most common IT support and security mistakes small businesses make:

1. No Disaster Recovery Plan Whatsoever:

Cloud computing has made backing up your data so inexpensive and easy to do. Don’t fall for excuses that come to mind, such as thinking backing up your data doesn’t make financial sense, given how little you have to actually back up. Or maybe you can’t afford a full-time IT guy. On the surface, these excuses appear true. However, the reality is backing your data up to the cloud (at minimum) is so simple there’s no reason not to do it. The alternative – potentially losing all your data and your business – is much worse.

2. Think “If It Isn’t Broke, Don’t Fix It:”

All the behavior on your network can appear to be going well on the surface. You don’t notice any slowdown as you and your employees use your network. There’s no major viruses causing chaos, it seems. So everything’s okay, right? Maybe and maybe not. Errors, like corrupted backups, bad tape drives, or backup server failures can happen all the time without regular monitoring. When it comes to data recovery, you can’t play games. Make sure you monitor your network or have a computer and network maintenance team do it for you.

3. Using Consumer Anti-Virus instead of Business Anti-Virus:

Consumer products are cheaper and do work well, but they cause logistical hassles for businesses. That’s because each employee can be an administrator for their own antivirus. Ever thought you had too many generals on the battlefield? That cliché goes to a whole new level if you let your employees administer their antivirus. Make sure you use a business version. It makes upgrading easy, and it lessens the opportunity for employee mistakes.

4. Don’t Assume Upgrades are Made Automatically:

Unfortunately, this routinely happens at the small business level. These patches should happen automatically. But that’s not always the case. Smart hackers wait for their golden opportunity to access your network and before you know it, a data breach has occurred. And when a new patch gets released, that’s a perfect time for them to see what access they can get. The simple solution is to have someone responsible for constantly monitoring your network for all the latest security upgrades.

5. Not Educating Your Users:

A recent survey from GFI software found 44% of small businesses “sometimes” educate employees, while 22% “rarely” do so, and 6% admit to “never” educating their employees. If you add those numbers up, that means 72% of businesses do not consistently educate their employees on safe computer and network use.

And most data security breaches happen because of user error! Remember to educate your users on safe workplace computer use regularly throughout the year.

Find out more about remote monitoring and data security for your small business:

Yes!  I want to Learn More About Saving 30% on Remote Monitoring!

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When’s the next big data breach going to happen?

Use the cloud to protect dataNotice that we didn’t use the word “if.” It’s the unfortunate reality we live in. The web connects people from around the globe. And for the most part, that’s a good thing. But a certain percentage of people will always misuse it for their own best interests. And you have to protect your healthcare company from those cyber criminals, or you’re going to experience some devastating consequences.

You may have heard from some people that storing your data in the cloud, while convenient, may not be a secure thing. But it can be if you take the right steps.

If you want to store data on the cloud, follow these best practices:

1. Encrypt Your Data

This one sounds so basic, but it bears repeating because many organizations continue to ignore it. You should use 256-bit AES to protect all data in the cloud. But remember, that doesn’t protect that data while it’s transmitted from one source to another. For that, you want to use SSL protection.

2. HIPAA Compliance

Believe it or not, many, perhaps even most, healthcare organizations don’t protect patient data as HIPPA outlines. That can cost you fines up to $1.5 million! Unfortunately, we can’t cover the entire topic here because it’s really an entire series of blog posts. You should at least ask your IT support team, whether outsourced or in-house, if they pay any attention to this. And if you’re not in compliance or have no awareness of its requirements, it’s time to sort things out now.

3. Strong Passwords

Again, another simple change here. But it does end up hurting many healthcare organizations.

Your password policy should require:
•    Passwords at least 8 characters long
•    A combination of letters, numbers, and special characters
•    Changes every 30-60 days

Yes, that gets inconvenient for your users because they have to remember different passwords and will definitely forget them from time to time. How should your employees store their passwords safely and securely? They should use a password manager like LastPass. However, they still need to remember their password for that. They should keep the password somewhere on their person (and not on a device they bring to work) – where IT staff or other employees could never find it.

There’s nothing amazing or fancy about security. Whether in the Cloud or your IT Network, security all boils down to consistency, discipline, and routine testing. If you do those things, that will take care of your cloud security and you won’t find yourself making local or national headlines, and having to explain to thousands of patients how you have lost their private data.

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