Uninstall Old Programs
Uninstalling old, unused programs keeps computers clean and reduces the number of attack points on the computer. Removing the old software will strengthen your defense and can also free up valuable hard drive space.

Avoid Using Browser Toolbars
Search toolbars are very popular browser toolbars. Many Internet browsers have built-in, customizable search features that make the search toolbars unnecessary (see image below). Browser toolbars may seem convenient at first, but they rarely provide benefits that are worth the security risk. These toolbars, especially poorly designed toolbars, can be a major weakness in your defense against malicious software. 

Remove Local Administrator Permissions
In typical scenarios, users will not need to be local administrators. Using standard user profiles can help eliminate malicious software installs and prevent users from making detrimental changes to the computer.

Email
Several types of malware infect computers via emails. Software can be used to prevent malicious emails from infecting computers, but the best way to avoid issues is to handle email with care. Unknown senders and spam emails should be monitored and deleted. Strange emails should be reported to the sender and they can re-send the email, if necessary.

Safe Internet Browsing
Safe Internet browsing is the most important hint I can provide. Avoiding unknown websites and links can really help with malware prevention.

Using preventative measures, alongside updated and active malware detecting software, will help keep computers safe and in good working condition. Malware is out there and the best offense against these threats is a good defense.

OneNote 2010

Microsoft’s OneNote 2010 allows me to create notes on my computer and/or my smartphone. This allows for mobility and consistency across the different technologies. If there is a change on my smartphone, it syncs to my computer. Also, there is added security so only I have access to my notes

Notepad++

This product is more for technical note taking. It offers simplicity for quick notes, but also has some advanced features that allow for changes to code and other tasks. This may not be for everyone, but is definitely a step up from Notepad.

TextWrangler and Evernote (Mac)

For all the Mac users, I have found there are a few options similar to OneNote. I briefly used Evernote and that has the mobile sync feature included in OneNote. TextWrangler is more basic, but it allows me to take quick notes and offers a few features missing in basic text editors.

Staying organized is important and manging your notes can help you stay on track.

One way to protect your business’ data, during poor weather, is to have a stable backup. Backups allow you to keep your data safe, even if your computer/device gets damaged. Offsite backups provide yet another level of protection by keeping your backup in another location that may not be affected by power issues, flooding, and other disasters.

Inclement weather is just one example of a time when data backups are necessary. Backups are also good for restoring a file that was accidentally deleted, restoring previous versions of a file, or just having piece of mind knowing that your data is safe. Bad weather or not, having a solid backup solution can save you both time and money.

During boot we normally see the spinning circle and the Apple logo.  But after some time if your Apple logo changes to the circle with a slash through it that indicates the boot drive is not loading.  Booting in safe mode using the Shift key at boot did not progress any farther than a normal boot.  I tried the single user mode (Command S) and verbose boot mode (Command V) and could see the boot uid and the message Still waiting for root device.

The solution

After some research and testing I verified that I was able to repair my OS X 10.7.3 Lion with PGP 10.1.2 WDE using the steps from the older Symantec support forum documentation: http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH149998

These steps are pulled directly from the document above:

Procedure:

1. Boot the system using the PGP Recovery CD.

2. When prompted, authenticate with your passphrase. DO NOT press D to decrypt. Press any key (e.g. spacebar) to boot into Mac OS X normally.

3. Once logged into Mac OS X, PGP Desktop will automatically fix the boot issue and you should no longer need the recovery CD.

4. Download the script “PGPwdeEFIUpdate.tar” to your desktop.

5. Open Terminal and navigate to your desktop directory by typing “cd ~/Desktop” and pressing enter.

6. Type in the command “tar -xzpf PGPwdeEFIUpdate.tgz”

7. Type in the command “chmod 755 PGPwdeEFIUpdate.sh” and press enter.

8. Type in the command “sudo ./PGPwdeEFIUpdate.sh” and press enter.

** The main point I want to note above is that you do not need to decrypt your drive.

The first step requires the PGP recover CD, which I downloaded here: http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH152610.  Since we are not actually decrypting the drive the version is not as important but you do want to try to get the same pgpboot iso disk image as your installed pgp version.   Once the file is downloaded you need to burn the disk image to a CD and boot your Mac from the CD.  To boot from the CD/DVD press C after the boot tone.  More Mac Intel based boot and startup shortcuts here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1533. Again, this is important, when you see the prompt to either decrypt the drive or continue press Return (or any key) to continue per the prompt message.  You many then enter your normal pgp password and proceed to boot as normal.

Now you are at the point of the first Symantec support document listed above at step 4.  Another point to note is that in step 6 if you cannot run tar you may use any of the built-in or free programs to extract the files after you download PGPwdeEFIUpdate.tgz.  Stuffit has a free expander program or use the built-in expander.

This procedure quickly restored my ability to boot my MacBook Pro with OsX 10.7.3 Lion with PGP WDE.  I hope it helps you get your Mac back up and running and booting as before.

As an aside, if you are using File Vault, FV, and needed to mount the encrypted disk for another reason you may simply boot to recovery mode using Command-R, run the disk utility, mount the desired disk and enter your password there.

Whatever the case, security is in the media forefront and that brings both pros and cons.  Malaise can set in from overexposure to “just another security incident” or denial in that users think they will never be “targeted” because of their seeming anonymity.  Businesses and websites are continually being scanned and probed for open security vulnerabilities.  Are those openings producing more breaches, likely not, but with compromised businesses delaying or avoiding disclosure the statistics are debatable?  Advanced computer and network security exploits are certainly more readily available today than they were just a few years ago.  Not all tools are designed for nefarious purposes, see metasploit, but nonetheless there are seemingly good tools and others that even elementary computer users and criminals may implement to breach a company’s server, bring down websites and more commonly steal user data.

So what are typical users and business to do?  Are they at risk or it is only towering conglomerates and DoD contractors?  What businesses need to understand is that the initial scans and probes are completely automated and will eventually hit their servers, websites, etc.  If those automated tools find open vulnerabilities then additional higher-level tools may be implemented or even a real person may be alerted to the possibilities of exploiting your site.  That is why it is so important to keep up with current patches and security updates for your routers, firewalls, servers, computers and other devices.  If you keep the most obvious holes plugged you are better off than many businesses and users.

Another common unwanted entry into systems and accounts is from poor passwords.  We’ve all been bothered and badgered by different systems requiring 8 or more characters in a password, and sometimes using uppercase and special characters.  There are different thoughts to the usefulness of changing passwords frequently, another common practice, but the length and especially complexity of passwords does help to mitigate threats.  Depending on the security in place, some passwords can be cracked in under 10 seconds and many in under 17 minutes (again this is all done by automated programs checking for common passwords and lower security systems).  Realistically, your password is more likely to be exposed from a larger database hack, seen from several breaches of banks and online commerce sites.  If you use the same password at many, or all, sites as a significant number of people do then all your data can be compromised.  The recent CitiBank hack and some of the gaming and pornography site hacks had the stolen passwords posted to the Internet with a suggestion for others to try logging in with the exposed email addresses and passwords on the users’ Facebook accounts, etc.

There is obviously a need for skilled computer and network security professionals to implement best practices but the above shows us that an old adage of “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” is true for online and data safety.  If you keep up with the current best practices for known threats and secure passwords you can help yourself, and your data, have a better chance of staying safe and secure.

Do small businesses need to focus on computer and network security?  Many think that only large organizations, such as Sony or CitiBank (see ** below), that boast about secure networks and taunt underground hacker organizations need to worry about network and computer security, right…? But what about the rest of businesses, the ones that are local or regional in size and scope, are they at risk and are they experiencing the same security failures and incidents?

A very telling article I read recently stated 80% of businesses experienced some data loss in the last year due to some security lapse or breach.  I absolutely believe the assertion of the article and the survey results:

• It indicates that customer information (52 percent) is the most common type of sensitive information compromised in data leaks
• followed by intellectual property (33 percent)
• employee information (31 percent)
• and corporate plans (16 percent)

Are large black hat organizations, such as the Anonymous hacker collective or LulzSec, targeting local Indiana business, not likely?  What smaller and medium sized business needs to worry about when it comes to security is internal security threats and more realistically lost devices.  This is what I see as the largest and easiest hole to plug in the dam to secure company data, simply securing mobile and movable devices with sensitive data.

What are the threats, then, and how can they be hardened to minimize data loss?  There are three main devices or device types to address when looking at mobile data and mobile devices.

1. Laptops – in this category is included netbooks, notebooks and tablet devices.  Many new laptops have more processing power and storage capacity than servers of just a few years ago.  With that increased size and power comes the ability to store vast amounts of data in spreadsheets, documents, mail and other communication programs, etc.  So what then is the threat?  Should you be worried about being hacked while checking email at Starbucks, downloading a trojan or virus form a colleagues email?  Not really.  The most common scenario of data loss for laptops is simply losing the device.  A laptop stolen from a car is a common incident that can embarrass companies and compromise their data.  When the laptop is lost it allows hackers (crackers are the bad guy hackers) or criminals unlimited time to creak into the device and glean the important data(read important as sellable so they can make money – for instance selling credit card info to other criminals on the Internet).  Simply password protecting your laptop on login does little to secure the device.  There are several ways to crack the password in under a minute or the disk may simply be pulled from the device and read from another computer without making any other changes.  The laptop hard drive, or other device, should be fully encrypted so that the disk is unreadable if pulled form the device and also protected by complex passwords.  There are many encryption programs available for a nominal fee that are essentially unbreakable.  I state essentially because there is always someone or some government working to crack the latest security software.  As an aside, the Chinese government has a large stake in Symantec, which owns PGP one of the standards in disk encryption and other security software.
2. Mobile phones and smartphones – tablets can be considered a crossover into this category and as smartphones increase in power (several models now have dual core processors, etc) they may be more apt to consolidate into the laptop category.  Mobile devices present some similar issues as laptops but then also present different challenges based on their primary uses.  Phones do not often have the same amount of data in documents or spreadsheets but within the stored email of the user may be those documents as well as sensitive communications, contacts, and access to other accounts such as banking form downloaded applications.  What is chilling about the increasing usefulness of the advanced mobile device is that they are often not protected with even a basic passcode or password.  So then, that must be the first step to manage security on mobile devices for business.  On top of that, there are applications and utilities available for phones (Android, iPhone, Blackberry, etc) to lock the phone, encrypt data files if needed and remotely wipe the contents of the device if it is lost.  Many applications will automatically wipe the device if an incorrect passcode is entered a set number of times.  Obviously you want to have a validated backup routine in place, but that is just another piece of the security and business continuity plan.
3. Offsite hard drive or tape rotation – this category is slowly shrinking as large Internet connection make online data backup over the wire possible to offsite data centers for redundant backup.  The scenario is similar again to laptop data loss.  A courier or trusted employee is transporting a tape or hard drive offsite as part of a company’s disaster recovery plan and the device is stolen most commonly from their car.  The irony of losing large amounts of sensitive data (what you decided was critical enough to backup) as part of a disaster recovery plan and doing the right thing is not lost on me.  Many backup programs can encrypt the backup or at least password protect the backup but even password protection not always implemented by the company.  If current encryption best practices are followed this threat can be almost reduced to zero even in the event of a lost or stolen backup device because the data on the tape or disk is rendered unreadable without the ability to unencrypt the data.

So we can see that small business is still at risk or data loss, security breaches and other incidents.  There are some fairly easy and inexpensive steps to implement prior to a security event to minimize loss and embarrassment.  It is well worth the time and effort to go ahead and take care of security before something happens.  However, most people and companies still react to security rather that prevent issues.

** Sony has been on the receiving end of multiple hacks (at least 6 times) over the past month or more and CitiBank has just recently disclosed a major databreach from about a month ago.

Now, to be clear, there is a simple way to thwart this threat and many argue it should be the default security setting on Safari browser’s on Macs.  Users may simply go to their Safari preferences, select the general tab and then uncheck ‘Open “safe” files after downloading’  By unchecking the default setting that allows files to download and open automatically you again take control over what is programs are installed and files opened on your system.

So the next logical question that comes to mind, after asking how do I stop this attack from infecting my Mac, is how do I better protect my Mac from other threats in general.  Unfortunately, the answer is likely that you’ll now need to consider installing an antivirus and/or other malware protection.  With an antivirus program you begin to fall into the same categories of issues that plague PC users:

• Which antivirus program to use and/or purchase
• Are the free virus scanners as good as the paid ones
• Computer slowdowns dues to antivirus running on your Mac
• Updating and scanning your system

The good news is that there are many antivirus programs currently, and likely more to come with the press given to this threat Mac Guard (a variant and evolution of Mac Protector and Mac Defender).  Some of the names in Mac virus protection are familiar to the PC world and others may be new: Sophos free antivirus for home users and paid business editions, ESET Cybersecurity for Mac on Apple’s web store, Clam AV, and others.

Are Macs now doomed to persistent unheralded threats just like PCs?  I think the time is still a little ways off, but it is certainly time to take notice and address security on your Mac just as you do on your PC.  As with PC users, when people ask me how to best keep their systems safe, my first response is to be smart about where you go and what you do on the Internet and other networks.  However, even websites you would consider safe such as your aunt’s picture webpage of her trip to the Adirondack Mountains can be compromised by the server that hosts the site and infect your system with malware.  So, if users who are smart about their web surfing and don’t share USB thumb drives with their music sharing son can be infected, then the next step is to tighten down the security of your Mac and install additional programs to automatically protect your system.

It is not the end of days for Mac users, but rather should be considered a wake-up to see that all the hype saying that Mac users don’t need antivirus or need to worry about security may have been more due to an advantage of low market share and low interest by virus writers rather than security superiority over PCs.  I like Macs.  I’m writing this post on a Mac.  But security issues are not limited by operating system manufacturer.  More so it depends on the user, how the system is configured and how it is used.  We’ve seen Linux server grossly compromised because they’ve been setup incorrectly alongside Windows servers suffering the same.  Take some time to learn about the security tools and options available for your Mac and enjoy the zen experience Apple offers.

Using robocopy makes many tasks easier with its robust switches and command line options.  One thing that is not easily determined and is not readily defined in the help or online is how to use robocopy with file names and folders that contain spaces.  After some quick trial and error I determined one way to make it work without using scripting code.

I came across this issue recently when migrating a small business server, sbs2003, to sbs2011, which as an aside is much easier than migrating to sbs2008. For example, if you have a share on a server named server01 and want to copy it to the local server from which you are working and the server share has space in the filename such as “Health Benefits,”  normally you would open a command prompt using runas administrator and then enter:

robocopy \\server01\Health Benefits\ C:\Data\HealthBenefits\ /E /R:10 /COPY:DATSOU /LOG:C:\Copy_HB_results.txt

However, this does not provide the correct input syntax for robocopy and the copy does not run.  It sees the destination incorrectly as the word immediately following the space, in this case Benefits.

robocopy /”\server01\Health Benefits\/” C:\Data\HealthBenefits\ /E /R:10 /COPY:DATSOU /LOG:C:\Copy_HB_results.txt

I hope this helps others as it will make it much easier, imho, than scripting for those not familiar with specific scripting syntax.  I know I’ll be using it more for sbs 2011 migrations and other server maintenance.

A few years later (end of 2002) there was an article in PC Magazine that asked “Are Tablet PCs the Next Big Thing?” The author was optimistic at that time, but here we are, over 8 years later and we are just (hopefully) getting there.

Are we there yet?

I don’t know, but I have high hopes because I received notification that my ASUS Eee Slate has shipped from Amazon. In addition to hoping it meets my goal of replacing my work laptop, I want to evaluate it to determine where it makes sense for L5 Solutions small business customers. I plan to use blog entries to provide some insight into the latter.

Why I waited for the ASUS Slate

I needed something that could do more than just allow me to play games, surf the internet, and watch video. I needed a business computer. Since most of our business applications are Windows based, I needed a machine that would run standard Windows. Also, I wanted speed, handwritten note taking ability, decent size, and expandability.I will provide more information on my experience in future posts. If you are looking to buy or see the specs, check it out at Amazon. When I ordered mine on March 22^nd, it said out of stock, but it ended up shipping April 7^th. So don’t hesitate to get in line if you want it.

ASUS Eee Slate EP121