Category Archives: Blog

Posted on Author Atlantic Computer Services Categories Blog

AI Comes To Microsoft Office Products

The folks of Microsoft have been busy quietly making improvements to their venerable MS Office Suite.

Recently Excel got some intriguing updates that expanded the number of data types cells could accept. That is with a bit of programmatic help of course. At this year’s Ignite IT conference Microsoft announced some exciting new tools and capabilities coming to the suite as a whole.

At the center of all of it is what the company describes as a “natively integrated AI experience” that spans the whole of Microsoft 365’s architecture.

Currently there is a nominal amount of AI incorporated into Microsoft 365. For instance spelling and grammar corrections and word recommendations.

This is the merest tip of the iceberg. What’s coming has been dubbed “Context IQ.”

Here’s what it does:

In the editor Context IQ will provide predictive assistance. When you’re using the editor you may get a prompt to consider certain documents when attaching or sharing files with colleagues. That is if the AI determines that these would add value based on the other files you’re sending or sharing.

In a similar vein if you tag someone using the “@” symbol Context IQ will recommend others you may want to tag as well. When you schedule a meeting in Calendar Context IQ will help you auto-complete the meeting subject and recommend the best times for hosting the meeting. It does this by using your participant list and their scheduled availability (assuming that data is also in Calendar).

All of this is designed to help you get more done more quickly and efficiently and that’s amazing.

You may have already seen some Context IQ elements as the company has taken a phased approach to its implementation. If you haven’t you certainly will see it in action soon. Kudos to Microsoft for incorporating such high value changes.

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Posted on Author Atlantic Computer Services Categories Blog

Employee training and Cybersecurity

Employee training & Cybersecurity

Employee training will form a big part of the cybersecurity initiative that you will take on as an organization. You need to train your employees to identify and respond correctly to cyberthreats. Here are some employee training best practices that you can make a part of your cybersecurity training program.

Create an IT policy handbook
Make sure you have a handbook of your IT policy that you share with every new employee, regardless of their position in the company. This IT policy handbook must be provided to everyone–right from the CEO to the newest intern in your organization. Also, ensure this handbook is consistently updated. IT is evolving at great speed and your handbook must keep up

Make cybersecurity training a part of your official training initiatives
Cybersecurity training should be a part of your corporate training initiatives for all new employees. You can also conduct refresher sessions once in a while to ensure your existing employees are up-to-date on the latest cyberthreats. At the end of the training session, conduct tests, mock drills, certification exams. Good training includes assessment. Provide follow up training for those who need it. This strong emphasis on training will ensure your employees take cybersecurity seriously.

Day zero alerts
As discussed, the cybercrime landscape is constantly evolving. Every day, cybercriminals are finding new vulnerabilities to exploit, and new methods to steal your data or to hack into your system. Day zero alerts are a great way to keep your employees updated. Has a new security threat been discovered or an important plug-in released for the optimal functioning of a browser? Send an email to everyone spelling out clearly what the threat is and what they can do to mitigate it. Then, follow up to verify they took the necessary steps.

Transparency

Let your employees know who to contact in the event of any IT related challenges. This is important because someone troubleshooting on the internet for a solution to something as simple as a zipping up a file could end up downloading malware accidentally.

Considering the serious ramifications brought on by cybercrime attacks, it makes sense for organizations to strengthen their first line of defense against cybercriminals–their own employees.

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Posted on Author Atlantic Computer Services Categories Blog

Windows 10 Update Includes PC Health Check For Users

If you’re one of the legions of Windows 10 users you may have recently noticed a new application on your machine. Rest assured that you didn’t get infected with some type of malware. The new app is part of a Windows 10 update. Specifically KB5005463. If your system is set automatically receive Windows updates it may have appeared that the new app showed up by magic.

PC Health Check is a new tool designed to help with troubleshooting Windows issues. A diagnostic suite to help keep your machine running smoothly. Although the new app is being designed for inclusion in Windows 11 Microsoft has made the decision to roll it out to Windows 10 users and force install it on users’ systems.

The company’s implementation here hasn’t been well received. Many users have taken to Reddit, Twitter, and other popular internet portals to blast the company for installing software they didn’t ask for and don’t necessarily want on their devices.

Microsoft’s response has been rather nonchalant responding that if people don’t want the new app it’s as simple as uninstalling it via the Settings app.

While that’s technically true users have been pointing out that it’s not a one time thing. They have to keep uninstalling the unwanted app because it keeps getting reinstalled every time a new OS update is applied. Worse there’s an issue in the Windows 10 uninstall app where the OS indicates that the update is not installed when it obviously is.

In short Microsoft hasn’t handled the situation terribly well.

The good news is that if you really don’t want the offending app there is something you can do though it involves modifying the Windows Registry.

Simply look for “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftPCHC” and set the value of this entry to ‘1.’ Doing this will ensure that the next Windows update won’t reinstall the app once you’ve uninstalled it.

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Posted on Author Atlantic Computer Services Categories Blog

New Android Malware Wreaks Havoc For Some Users

There’s a nasty new strain of malware you need to be aware of that targets Android devices. Don’t let the funny name fool you because AbstractEmu is a serious threat. Not only will it root an infected device but it will allow the controller of the malware to take total control of the device. It will alter its settings and attempt to evade detection via a combination of anti-emulation checks and code abstraction.

The new strain was discovered by security researchers at Lookout Threat Labs. They discovered it bundled with a collection of legitimate utility apps distributed via the Google Play Store and other third-party app repositories.

Google has removed the malware from the Play Store at this point but not before several thousand people had already downloaded it. The malware remains available on a few different third-party repositories. If you’re in the habit of picking up apps outside of the Play Store an extra measure of caution is prudent.

The team that discovered the new strain had this to say about it:

“AbstractEmu does not have any sophisticated zero-click remote exploit functionality used in advanced APT-style threats, it is activated simply by the user having opened the app. As the malware is disguised as functional apps, most users will likely interact with them shortly after downloading.

By using the rooting process to gain privileged access to the Android operating system, the threat actor can silently grant themselves dangerous permissions or install additional malware — steps that would normally require user interaction.”

Needless to say the group behind AbstractEmu has some skill and some serious coding chops. Although the malware strain’s removal from the Google Play Store has limited the rate of its spread you can bet the threat group will be on the lookout for other opportunities.

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Posted on Author Atlantic Computer Services Categories Blog

Some People Still Use 20 Year Old Windows XP

Windows XP recently turned twenty. Two decades is an eternity in the world of computers. Yet despite its age the venerable OS still has a surprising number of loyal users.

The problem is that Windows XP stopped receiving security updates in 2014. That means those who are still clinging to it run a very real risk of having their systems compromised.

It’s actually worse than the dates above indicate because mainstream support for Windows XP ended in 2009. However a small number of users were able to get extended support which lasted for an additional five years.

Microsoft has in a handful of cases issued emergency security patches to deal with critical security threats. However the bottom line is that there are a whole host of serious security flaws in the OS at this point and further help is not coming.

So who are the Windows XP users and why haven’t they upgraded to a more modern OS yet?

Broadly speaking they fall into two categories. The first group resides in the public sector. Public sector agencies tend to be notoriously slow where upgrades are concerned. Given how long public sector employees have been using it there’s a significant re-training cost to consider that many public agencies simply don’t have the budget for.

The second major category are agencies that have legacy applications that are incompatible with more modern operating systems. In these cases upgrading the OS requires a total rewrite of those legacy applications which may be ruinously expensive. On top of that a total rewrite of business critical applications would result in massive hardware and retraining costs on top of the software development.

It’s a tricky proposition which has left a small but significant number of users in a vulnerable position. The sooner these remaining holdouts find a way out of their situations the safer and better off they will be.

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