Is your laptop data safe when using Wifi Hotposts??  
The BBC says NO!

BBC 1’s consumer Watchdog program this week broadcasted a show about the dangers of using free wifi access points, offered by many high street venues like McDonalds & Starbucks. Armed with their own hacker, the watchdog team set about accessing innocent users laptops who were connected to the hotspots. The hacker managed to obtain access to various systems and certain types of data. To watch the BBC program in full click on the this  link

Scary it may sound, but there are some easy ways to protect yourself when using public hotspots.  Smart Computers also offers a range of business solutions  to protect your mobile workers, please see below.

Here are some steps to protect yourself when using public wifi hotspots:

• When entering personal data see if there is SSL encryted versions of website. The site should begin with https://
• Check your folder sharing permissons and use a password protected user account
• Make sure software has all the latest updates e.g. Windows Updates
• Use updated Anti Virus software (For a FREE trial click here)
• Use  a VPN (Virtual Private Network) (Contact Us)
• Use encryted email certificates (Contact Us)

For more advice and information please contact Smart Computers on 01242 580 654

A: Uninterruptible power supply (UPS) batteries typically last three to five years. Life expectancy is based on several factors, including usage (the number of times the unit must go to battery power) and other environmental conditions. Below are some guidelines to ensure the optimum life expectancy of a battery.
 

1. Make sure that the APC UPS is kept in a cool, dry location with plenty of ventilation. Ideally, the temperature where the UPS is kept should not exceed 75° F (24° C). Also, for ventilation purposes, leave roughly 1 to 2 inches on each side for proper airflow.

2. Perform runtime calibrations on the UPS only one or two times a year, if necessary. Some people perform runtime calibrations to verify that their runtime is sufficient. However, performing frequent runtime calibrations can decrease the life expectancy of an APC battery. 

3. Do not store APC batteries for extended periods of time. New batteries can be stored 6 to 12 months. After this period, the battery should be used, or it will lose a great deal of its charge. It is not advisable to store batteries that have already been in use.

4. Do not exceed 80% of a UPS unit’s rated capacity, on account of the reduction in runtime. Increasing the load decreases runtime. In the event of a power failure, a UPS loaded to full capacity will drain and discharge its battery quickly and will lessen the life expectancy.

Note: In order to ensure longer runtime on a battery, laser printers should never be plugged into battery backup outlets of a UPS. Be sure to use the “surge-only” outlets (on appropriate models) for laser printers. For those UPSs without “surge-only” outlets, it is recommended that the laser printer be plugged into a separate APC SurgeArrest surge suppressor.

Why ESET?

It’s effective
ESET solutions are the most effective proactive protection you can buy to combat today’s huge volumes of web and email-borne threats. ESET’s award-winning ThreatSense® technology has multiple layers of threat detection to deliver the most effective protection possible against new attacks with the fewest false positives (false alarms).

■ ESET has the most VB100 awards (54) for its ability to detect “In-the-Wild” viruses. In fact ESET has not missed an In-the-Wild virus in over 10 years
■ ESET is a consistent top-performer in AV-Comparatives Proactive Detection tests
■ ESET was named “Best Antivirus Product” for 2006 and 2007 and won “Best Overall Performance” by AV-Comparatives, an independent testing organization.

It’s fast
ESET antivirus software is so fast you won’t even know it’s there. It uses only 44-48MBs of memory, so if you’re replacing existing antivirus protection, you may find some applications run faster.

It’s easy to use
From its compact and intuitive user interface to its minimal use of alerts, you’ll be up and running in minutes.

It has free and comprehensive customer support
ESET provides an online user manual and FAQs along with a lively user forum, as well as email and telephone customer support.

Free 30-day trial
A free 30-day trial download is available by contacting us, so you can try it yourself with no obligation.

Up to 90% of email is spam!*

SmartFish our hosted email service scans and filters out threats by integrating powerful anti-spam with award-winning antivirus.

SmartFish Scanner will dramatically cut down, the amount of unsolicited mail, received by your organisation. By redirecting your mail through our scanners, our servers will check all your incoming & outgoing mail against well known spam lists and virus definitions, STOPPING unwanted mails from getting onto your network.

Unwanted Spam will waste your company time & money. How many of your employees lose productivity reading and deleting unwanted email? The cost of ongoing IT security, to fight all types of malware and virus, will keep on increasing as spam continues to be used as the main entry point on to your network.
 
How does it work?
· We help you point your Email Exchange (MX) records to our SmartFish servers
· Your mail passes through our server to be cleaned
· At this point our SmartFish scanner, filters through your mail looking for spam, malware & virus
· Mail is compared against well known spam & virus lists, and are given points
· High scoring mails are stopped in their tracks!
· After the scanning process your mail is tagged and forwarded to your mail servers
· A member of your staff, will be given administrator access to check tagged mail
· Any wrongly tagged items can be freed and re-delivered from this console
Source: Gartner Benchmarking Anti-Spam Effectiveness. April 25, 2006 (Gartner customers report that 75-90% of the emails they receive are spam and 2-6% are viruses)

FOR A FREE TRIAL you can telephone us on 0124 580 654 or email us by clicking here  

Of 300 hard disks bought randomly at computer fairs and an online auction site, 34% still held personal data.

Researchers from BT and the University of Glamorgan bought disks from the UK, America, Germany, France and Australia.

The information was enough to expose individuals and firms to fraud and identity theft, said the researchers.

Professor Andrew Blyth said: “It’s not rocket science – we used standard tools to analyse the data”.

The research involving the Welsh campus was led by BT’s Security Research Centre and included researchers at Edith Cowan University in Australia and Longwood University in the US.

In addition to finding bank account details and medical records, the work unearthed job descriptions and personal identity numbers as well as data about a proposed $50bn currency exchange through Spain.

Details of test launch procedures for the THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defence) ground-to-air missile defence system was found on a disk bought on eBay.

The missile system, tested as recently as March 2009 following a controversial missile test by North Korea, is designed to destroy long-range intercontinental missiles launched by terrorists or countries the US considers to be “rogue states”.

The missile system was designed and built by US defence group Lockheed Martin and the same computer hard disk also revealed security policies and blueprints of facilities at the group, and personal information on employees.

The researchers said a disk from France included security logs from an embassy in Paris, while two disks from the UK appear to have originated from a Scottish NHS hospital trust.

The disks had information from the Monklands and Hairmyres hospitals, part of Lanarkshire NHS Trust, and revealed patient medical records, images of x-rays, medical staff shifts and sensitive and confidential staff letters.

Another disk, from a US-based consultant, formerly with a US-based weapons manufacturer, revealed account numbers and details of proposals for the $50bn currency exchange as well as details of business dealings between organisations in the US, Venezuela, Tunisia and Nigeria.

Personal correspondence was also found from a member of a major European bank.

‘Illegal’

Prof Blyth, an expert in computer forensics and principal lecturer at the University of Glamorgan’s faculty of advanced technology, said the results were in line with previous studies which showed 40%-50% of second-hand disks that can be powered up contained sensitive data.

He said: “While it’s not getting worse, its not getting any better either.

“It’s not rocket science. I could probably take somebody who is 14 or 15 years old and in a day have them doing this.”

Dr Andy Jones, head of information security research at BT, said: “It is clear that a majority of organisations and private individuals still have no idea about the potential volume and type of information that is stored on computer hard disks.

“Businesses also need to be aware that they could also be acting illegally by not disposing of this kind of data properly.”

In a statement, Lanarkshire NHS Trust said: “This study refers to hard disks which were disposed of in 2006. At that time NHS Lanarkshire had a contractual agreement with an external company for the disposal of computer equipment.

“In this instance the hard drives had been subjected to a basic level of data removal by the company and had then been disposed of inappropriately. This was clearly in breach of contract and was wholly unacceptable.”

The trust has carried out a review of its policies and now no longer uses external companies to dispose of IT equipment, the statement added.

A spokesman for Lockheed Martin said the company was not aware of any “compromise of data” related to the THAAD programme, and no government or law enforcement agency had notified it of any such loss.

The results of the study, the fourth in a five-year project, will be made available in a paper appearing in the next issue of the Journal of International Commercial Law and Technology (JICLT) 2009

Source www.bbc.co.uk

20,000 plus new samples of malware are detected every day say experts

Security vendor McAfee reports there has been a 50% increase in the number of “zombie” computers hijacked without the owners’ knowledge since 2008.

The figures come as a report from Deloitte said a global approach to cyber-security is needed to ensure the safety of the digital economy.

“Doing nothing is not an option,” said Deloitte’s Greg Pellegrino.

Everything that depends on cyberspace faces unprecedented risks said Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu (DTT).

“This issue is moving so quickly, and with so much at stake economically and in terms of safety and security for people, we don’t have 100 years to figure this out,” explained Mr Pellegrino who is a global public sector industry leader at DTT.

McAfee also revealed that the United States now hosts the world’s largest percentage of infected computers at 18% with China a not too distant second with just over 13.%.

“The massive expansion of these botnets provides cybercriminals with the infrastructure they need to flood the web with malware,” said Jeff Green, senior vice president of McAfee.

“Essentially, this is cybercrime enablement.”

Daily living”

The DTT findings revealed a growing awareness of the role the internet plays in so many different aspects of our lives from security to commerce and from transportation to communication.

“We are seeing this change from protecting the internet to a conversation about how we succeed and prosper in cyberspace,” Mr Pellegrino told the BBC.

“Security spending is growing at a rate never seen before while the threat environment is growing at a pace of 40% a year.

“In terms of volume and severity of incidents, the math doesn’t work and we have to come up with a different approach that requires public and private sectors working together,” Mr Pellegrino said.

“We are talking about daily living” said fellow author Gary McAlum, who is a retired US air force colonel and senior manager of security and privacy services at Deloitte.

“There is a lot of discussion about the economy and the military and the public and private sector, but we have now reached a sense of urgency about the interconnectedness of all these areas.”

That view was echoed by a member of the US military top brass who just gave evidence to a branch of the House Armed Services Committee.

“Our economy, the nation’s critical infrastructure, and many of our military operations depend on unfettered access to cyberspace,” said Lieutenant General Keith Alexander, the director of the National Security Agency (NSA) who also heads the Pentagon’s new Cyber Command.

“Maintaining freedom of action in cyberspace in the 21st century is as inherent to US interests as freedom of the seas was in the 19th century, and access to air and space in the 20th century.”

He has called for the creation of a digital warfare force for the future and has stated that the US needs to reorganise its offensive and defensive cyber operations.

Prominence

The Deloitte study included interviews conducted with government officials and industry experts from around the world.

While it revealed a patchwork approach to the problem it also showed it was one that was gaining prominence.

“We were very pleased that there was a similar tone and awareness and leadership effort coming from different countries across the world,” Mr Pellegrino said.

“Clearly this particular issue has a different context depending on where you are in the world. We cannot afford to go backwards.”

In America, President Obama has made the issue of cyber-security a top priority. Shortly after taking office he ordered a 60 day review that has now been delivered to his desk.

It is understood the release of the review has been delayed by the ongoing H1N1 swine flu crisis. When the report is made public, it is expected that the President will also announce his choice for cyber-security tsar to lead the charge.

While the Deloitte research said security in Asia-Pacific needs to “catch up” it noted that the United Kingdom is in the process of writing a national cyber strategy with an emphasis on public-private partnership.

On the continent, the European Commission has urged member states to co-ordinate on cyber-security measures while in Latin America the report authors conclude that there is a “diversity of approaches.”

Canada has completed its own cyber-security review and this year will be implementing the National Cyber Security Strategy as well as creating a new Directorate of Cyber Security with a mandate to engage closely with the private sector.

Despite all these efforts, the Deloitte authors point out that time is of the essence.

“Not only do we have to take action, we don’t have enough time,” warned Mr Pellegrino.

Mr McAlum agreed and said mapping a clear strategy is crucial.

“We need to get our house in order first so that we can interact with the rest of the world with one voice, with clear roles and responsibilities aligned.”

Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) said it was developing tracking technology but “only acts when it is necessary” and “does not spy at will”.

The denial follows the home secretary scrapping plans for a single government database for all communications.

Jacqui Smith said instead firms should record all people’s internet contacts.

In the statement, GCHQ said one of its “greatest challenges is maintaining our capability in the face of the growth in internet-based communications.

“We must reinvest continuously to keep up with the methods that are used by those who threaten the UK and its interests.”

But the agency added: “GCHQ is not developing technology to enable the monitoring of all internet use and phone calls in Britain, or to target everyone in the UK.

“Similarly, GCHQ has no ambitions, expectations or plans for a database or databases to store centrally all communications data in Britain.

“The new technology that GCHQ is developing is designed to work under the existing legal framework.”

The denial comes days after Ms Smith ditched plans for a giant centralised database to store all internet and phone conversations.

Instead she announced that communications firms will be asked to record all contacts between people.

The new system would track all e-mails, phone calls and internet use including visits to social network sites, but not their content.

On Sunday, the Sunday Times newspaper reported that GCHQ was in fact forging ahead with plans to monitor all communications in Britain.

According to the newspaper, £1bn is being spent on a “Mastering the Internet (MTI)” programme that would involve “thousands of ‘black box’ probes being covertly inserted across online infrastructure”.

Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, said the GCHQ statement raised more questions than it offered answers.

She added: “There are various comments about what this project is not intended for – but not what it is designed to achieve.

“More importantly, when is Parliament going to have the opportunity to debate it?”