Category Archives: Blog

Posted on Author Atlantic Computer Services Categories Blog

Microsoft Teams Gets End To End Encryption

Two months ago, Microsoft began rolling out support for end-to-end encryption for all Teams calls.  Given the pandemic and the increased demand for Teams and services like it, that was a very big deal.

The good news is that Microsoft recently announced that the rollout is complete and all Teams calls now support E2EE which increases security for everyone.

This is a move that most other virtual meeting clients have already begun to replicate. This is as working from home appears to be a permanent or at least semi-permanent fixture on the corporate landscape. All this is happening as we are still feeling the lingering effects of the pandemic.

If you are a Teams user your IT admin will be able to toggle the E2EE functionality on or off for your business depending on your particular needs and desires.

John Gruszcyk is a Technical Product Manager at Microsoft and he stressed:

“As a reminder, by default end-to-end encryption will not be available to all users within the tenant. 

Once IT has configured the policy and enabled it for selected users, those selected users will still need to turn on end-to-end encryption in their Teams settings. IT retains the ability to disable E2EE for one-to-one Teams calls as necessary.”

If you’re anxious to jump right in and start making use of E2EE for Teams calls you can do so in three easy steps:

  • Sign into your Teams Admin center and make your way to Other Settings à Enhanced Encryption Policies
  • Give your new policy a name and then for “end to end call encryption” select “Users can turn it on” – then save your selections.
  • Finally, once this is done and you’ve finished creating your policy assign it to user groups or your entire tenant the same way you manage other Teams policies.

Kudos to Microsoft for completing what much surely have been a massive undertaking on their end!

0
Posted on Author Atlantic Computer Services Categories Blog

AWS Outage Caused Major Headaches For Businesses

If yours is one of the thousands of businesses that rely on Amazon Web Services (AWS for short) then you’re already aware that recently there were issues.

Even if your business doesn’t rely on AWS directly if you do business with anyone who does rely on Amazon’s Flagship digital service you’re probably at least aware of the recent problems.

At around 10:30am eastern time on December 15th, Amazon’s Web Services began experiencing difficulties.  As a result, every business relying on AWS likewise began experiencing difficulties. Communication from Amazon has been sparse to this point.

The most substantial message we’ve received from them so far was:

“We have resolved the issue affecting Internet connectivity to the US-WEST-1 Region. Connectivity within the region was not affected by this event. The issue has been resolved and the service is operating normally.”

The good news is that for now at least the problem seems to have been resolved.  Unfortunately, we don’t yet have any details about what caused it, what Amazon did to fix it, or how likely the issue is to crop up again in the days and weeks ahead.

It matters because this is the hands-down busiest time of year for many if not most businesses around the world.  If things aren’t firing on all cylinders during the Holiday Season it could spell disaster for entire industries which could send the global economy into a tailspin.

Given that we’ve only just begun to climb out of the economic pit the pandemic threw the world’s economy into, that would be doubly awful.

Amazon is normally better than this at communicating with the masses so we expect we’ll be hearing more from the company quite soon. When we do here’s to hoping it was a one-off that we won’t have to worry about again!

0
Posted on Author Atlantic Computer Services Categories Blog

Android Can Track AirTags And Similar Devices With New App

The Apple and Android ecosystems just took another step toward melding together with the release of a new App built by Apple.

The app allows Android devices to track any nearby device that is “Find My-enabled.”

From Apple’s perspective the move is less about creating a user experience that spans ecosystems and more about user security.

The new Android App is called Tracker Detect and can be found on the Google Play store. Once the app is downloaded and installed an Android user can scan the immediate area for rogue AirTags or other “FindMy-enabled” devices.

If you’re not already familiar with AirTags the big thing to know about them is that they will begin to beep annoyingly every few minutes if they have been disconnected from their owner.  The beeping is a means of alerting those nearby that an AirTag is present ostensibly in a bid to get a helping hand in finding its way back home.

The new App makes that process just a little bit easier. Once you’ve installed it you’ll be presented with a simple screen with a prompt to begin a scan of your immediate vicinity.

If you tell the app to scan it will look for any unknown devices and present you with the option to play a sound on the device. It will do this along with providing instructions for scanning the tag to see who it belongs to (or removing the battery to disable it).

The key thing to note here is that it is not a passive scan.  The person using the app must proactively scan for devices.  In an ideal world some future version would at least allow for the possibility of passively scanning an area as you moved through it, but this is  a step in the right direction.  Kudos to Apple!

0
Posted on Author Atlantic Computer Services Categories Blog

Website Ranking Company Alexa Will Be Shut Down

It’s the end of an era.  Alexa.com is an iconic website run by Amazon that ranks and analyzes the popularity of other sites on the web. This site is soon to be retired.

Alexa.com is actually a subsidiary company wholly owned by Amazon. They offer an impressive suite of SEO services to webmasters interested in getting as much ‘ranking juice’ out of their sites as they can.

On a recent blog post related to the matter the company writes:

“Twenty-five years ago, we founded Alexa Internet. After two decades of helping you find, reach, and convert your digital audience, we’ve made the difficult decision to retire Alexa.com on May 1, 2022. Thank you for making us your go-to resource for content research, competitive analysis, keyword research, and so much more.”

As of now the company has stopped offering new subscriptions but existing customers will still be able to access their accounts and information until May 1, 2022.  At that time access will be revoked.  Alexa-related APIs will be retired as of December 8, 2022.

Although Alexa.com enjoyed tremendous popularity during the early days of the internet the site has been seeing declining traffic for years and it has reached the point now where traffic is just a fraction of what it once was.

This is the likely reason for sunsetting the service.  While it may be possible for Amazon to reinvigorate the service that would be an uphill battle. That is given the popularity of Google’s excellent offering and given how deeply entrenched Google is in the market.

If you are an Alexa customer enjoy it while you can. You should begin making plans to transition to something else soon because the clock is ticking.  Farewell Alexa.com.  As an iconic part of the landscape of the early internet you will be missed.

0
Posted on Author Atlantic Computer Services Categories Blog

Cyber hygiene: The key to your business’s good cyber health

Cyber hygiene: The key to your business’s good cyber health

We all know that basic hygiene is a must to lead a healthy life. Did you know that the same rule applies to IT as well? There’s something known as cyber hygiene that plays a key role in keeping your business healthy from the IT perspective. So, how do you ensure your business doesn’t fail when it comes to cyber hygiene? Here are a few tips.

Follow industry benchmarks and standards
Remember that if an IT practice has gained industry-wide recognition and adoption, it is because it certainly offers some benefits. Protocols like the HTTPS implementation, SSL security certificates, CIS Benchmark, etc., are examples of industry standards that you must follow to maintain good cyber hygiene. Following these standards enhance your cybersecurity quotient and also play a positive role in helping you win your customer’s trust.

Stronger IT administration
The role of an IT administrator is very critical in any organization. IT administration involves exercising control over most of the IT activities with a view to ensure the security of your IT environment is never compromised. Make sure your IT admin rules and policies are clearly formulated and covers everything including-

  • Clear definition of user roles
  • Permission levels for each user role
  • Restrictions regarding download/installation of new software
  • Rules regarding external storage devices
IT Audits
Conduct regular IT audits to spot vulnerabilities and gaps that may threaten the security of your IT infrastructure. During the IT audits pay special attention to-
  • Outdated software or hardware that is still in use
  • Pending software updates that make an otherwise secure software vulnerable
Fix what you can and get rid of what is too outdated to be made safe.

Password policy adherence
When it comes to cyber hygiene, passwords are the weakest link as often, people compromise on the password policy for convenience’s sake. Here are a few things to look into at the time of your IT audit to ensure your password policy is being adhered to.

  • Check if passwords are strong enough and follow the standards set for secure passwords
  • Discourage password repetition or sharing
  • Ensure multi-factor authentication, where apart from the password, there is at least one more credential, such as a secret question, a one-time password (OTP) sent to the user’s mobile phone, or a physical token or QR code, to verify and approve data access
Ensure basic security mechanisms are in place
As a part of your cyber hygiene check, ensure you have all the basic security mechanisms in place. These include
  • Anti-malware software programs
  • Firewalls
  • Data encryption tools
  • Physical security and access control tools like biometric access

Pay attention to what happens with obsolete data
How do you get rid of data you no longer need? Even though old data may not be of any use to you from the business perspective, a breach of that data can still hurt you legally. Ensure you get rid of old data safely. It is a good practice to deploy data wiping software and also create policies for the safe destruction of physical copies via shredding or other methods.

Strong cyber hygiene practices can keep your data safe from cybercriminals lurking out there. However, consistently following up and ensuring these best practices are being adhered to, can be taxing on your internal IT team. It may be a good idea to bring an MSP on board who is well versed in cybersecurity to assist you with cyber hygiene.

0
1 … 60 61 62 63 64 … 236