Archive for the ‘Network Security’ Category

How OnePlan Saved my customer $30,000

Monday, June 14th, 2010

It was a typical Monday, working in the office when I got a call from a contract customer.  She said that one of their high level employees was going to be termintated that afternoon and wanted me to come into the office the next day to change the passwords and lock the computers.  She said he wasn’t in the office so it wasn’t a rush.  I knew this employee had a company laptop so using the Live Connect function of Kaseya2 I clicked on the laptop to see what he was doing.  At first he was trying to access his 401K, then he started researching how to transfer his 401K, so at that point I had a good idea that he knew he was going to be fired.   The next thing he did was open his email and then open the company customer database. 

I knew this wasn’t going to be good.   There were over 75,000 customers in that database and he was trying to email them to his hotmail account.  Since i was a bit late to the game, I watched and waited until the email came in to the hotmail account and then went to work.  I already had the VNC window open, so when I saw a lull in activity I deleted the email, emptied the recycle bin and logged out of the hotmail account. 

Next I used one of the great features of K2 Live Connect – Remote Command Shell.  It gives a remote command shell without the user being aware of anything.  I changed all the passwords on the laptop and used the remote shutdown script in the Agent Procedures. 

Of course he tried to log back in, but since I changed thepasswords, his efforts were foiled! (it seems like an appropriate word) 

As of now we still do not have the laptop back, but the email has been deleted and as an added measure, I scheduled an automatic reboot every 7 minutes when the machine is on.

Beware Hackers – We are exposing your secrets!

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

Imagine this – you cannot send or receive emails for weeks because your email server has been hijacked! You may think you are immune to this scenario because you have reputable anti-virus software installed on your system. Unfortunately, you are operating on a false sense of security and hackers are praying that you keep thinking that way.

Here’s why…

You may have been told, and believe, that because they have anti-virus software and a software firewall, that your network is ‘secure.’ You have been misled. One of the more common stunts hackers pull is breaking through a software firewall to hijack a server. Once they gain access, they use YOUR server to send spam and viruses to millions of users – in a matter of seconds!

This is bad for two reasons:

  1. Your company’s server and email gets ‘blacklisted’, which means the big email delivery hubs (such as Google, Verizon, etc.) flag all of the emails coming from your server as dangerous and will not let them through. It could take days or weeks to get your company’s name cleared. In the mean time, you are without email.
  2. Your valuable clients, prospects and vendors (and anyone else in your contact list) start getting inappropriate ads and invitations to XXX-rated web sites from your company. Not good!

The best way to make sure this never happens to your business is to invest in On-Site Tech Support’s Managed Firewall. This investment in the security of your company is well worth the small price tag. Your company cannot afford to have a weak link in your network security that any hacker can break through. Let On-Site Tech Support start protecting you today!

Sign up for On-Site Tech Supports ‘Hacker-Prevention Security Audit’ (a $300 value) for FREE if you mention this post! We will come on-site and perform rigorous security checks on your current system to assess your risk of outside intrusion. While on-site, we will also:

  • Test your backups to make sure your data is safe and secure
  • Check your patches and other security maintenance to see if they are all up to date
  • Examine all software and hardware components for security vulnerabilities

Call 866.220.0709 or Click here to sign up.

Network Monitoring

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

Network Protection – Are you being too cheap?

Think back to the last time your server went down and you were not able to conduct business – Do you remember how frustrating that was? Or, maybe you experienced a virus or data-erasing disaster – Do you remember how difficult and expensive that was to resolve? In today’s business environment, there are very few business activities that do not rely heavily on your computer network, email and data programs. When any of these components work improperly, business grinds to a halt – and you lose valuable time and money!

With technology becoming ever more imperative to your business operations and hackers and viruses becoming more sophisticated about accessing your network, you simply cannot afford not to monitor the health and security of your network at all times. A network monitoring system is a great way for a trained professional to watch over your computer network system for slow or failing components, security breaches, and alarms that signify trouble is brewing. It can also detect signs that your backup solution is not working, that you are running out of space on the server, or that a firewall is not functioning properly.

The question is this – If network monitoring is so important, why aren’t more small businesses insisting that their IT service provider put a system in place?

  1. Lack of knowledge – The reality is that many businesses do have their systems monitored and the bigger and more sophisticated the business is, the more critical this becomes. Unfortunately, many IT providers that service small businesses do not know of or have the tools to provide monitoring services. As a result, many small business owners are not being offered this critically important service.
  2. Complacency – If it isn’t broken, why fix it? Please allow us to rephrase this in more realistic terms – If it isn’t broken, it eventually will be and it will cost valuable time and money! Remember, we do not wait to get robbed before we start locking our doors…we lock our doors to prevent a robbery. Network monitoring is an extremely important preventive measure that On-Site Tech Support utilizes to ensure that businesses do not get robbed of valuable time and money due to computer system failures.

Would you like to know how healthy, secure and reliable your network is? Sign up for On-Site Tech Support’s 30-Days of Free Network Monitoring for your entire office. You can see firsthand how secure and reliable your network is. There is no cost or obligation after 30 days and at the end, you will have a clear snapshot of:

  • The security of your network against viruses and hackers
  • How employees are using the Internet and email
  • If your backups are actually working
  • Any looming problems in hardware malfunctions, space issues, reliability, etc.

Call 866.220.0709 or Click here to sign up.