Sami Laiho, a software and network security expert, and reputed ?Microsoft MVP?, discovered that by keying in Shift + F10 during a ?Feature Update? (previously known as ?Upgrade), a user could access a Command Prompt window with total control over the machine. Making matters worse, current Microsoft updates disable BitLocker while in progress, giving that user complete access to all connected hard disks. We don?t have to tell you that if that person had nefarious intentions, they would absolutely be able to manipulate the machine through the command-line interface. While this process would have to be completed quickly if a user was to take advantage of this vulnerability, it?s a vulnerability all the same and should be taken into consideration by your organization?s network security support when updating or patching Windows 10. Lailo has been in contact with Microsoft, which is developing a resolution. Until then, stay vigilant in the management of what users have access to a workstation anytime that ?Feature update? is running. When Microsoft finishes their patch for this vulnerability, you will want to immediately want to apply it. For more information about critical vulnerabilities, patch management, and overall workstation maintenance, call (603) 889-0800 and talk with the IT experts at White Mountain IT Services.

As a note of the results of their research into implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) the researchers described the potential dangers of ICD technology. Pacemakers feature the capability to communicate with external technologies after being activated by a special magnetized device. This capability is generally of benefit to the patient, as their device can be read without an invasive procedure. However, if the patient is out of the doctor?s office within two hours, their pacemaker is still able to receive signals and instructions from any device. This puts the patient themselves at risk of a specialized cyber attack. This risk can then be exacerbated by the attacker. By sending a signal to the pacemaker device, the device can be kept from returning to ?sleep? mode, leaving it vulnerable to more attacks. During their studies, the researchers discovered how wide of a range these attacks could fall under. Simply by analyzing the signals that the tested devices communicated with their equipment, the team was able to devise a variety of ill-meaning uses for a criminal to take advantage of. Capable of draining the device?s battery or reading the personally identifiable information stored upon it in the patient?s onboard medical records, a cyber criminal could easily make their target?s life miserable. Scarier still, the right message sent to the pacemaker could even turn it off, or activate its heart-shocking features unnecessarily. The team confirmed that at least 10 varieties of the lifesaving device were vulnerable to the relatively very simple form of attack, without requiring any knowledge of the device itself. Scarier still, they were able to determine why the pacemakers were so vulnerable in the first place. Putting it very simply, the manufacturers of the devices had relied on the lifesaving pacemakers just not being an obvious target for cyber criminals, and had therefore been satisfied without building a lot of IT security into them. It was this mentality of ?nobody will consider this a target? that led to pacemakers becoming a target.Now, as scary as this story is, this was fortunately conducted by researchers, and not dangerous criminals. Regardless, it?s still pretty unnerving. So now every business owner should ask: Have I considered that my business might be a target? Many SMBs hold the same mistaken impression as the pacemaker manufacturers do: there are bigger, more valuable, more obvious targets than my business, so I don?t need to worry about security so much. Unfortunately for these businesses, they are proven wrong so many times. If you?re unsure of your level of IT security preparedness, give White Mountain IT Services a call at (603) 889-0800. We can help you keep your IT optimally secure, and securely optimized.

If we asked you to count the number of mobile devices in your workplace, would you be able to do so? This includes smartphones, laptops, tablets, and others–anything that?s not a workstation or hardware tied down to your location. While mobile devices can be beneficial for any business, it?s still important to keep security at the top of your mind. Here are three topics that you need to be sure you?ve considered before allowing mobile devices in the workplace. Data SecurityOne of the main ways you can optimize mobile device use in your organization is to keep security a top priority. When you add new devices to your network, you add more ways for hackers to breach it. The reasoning is simple; that means more devices that need security updates, and more users who could be exposing your organization?s data. Adding new devices can also lead to more work, and more work means a higher chance that there will be times when the work can?t be completed on time. Also, devices that aren?t up-to-date can become security risks. You can resolve this issue with a mobile device management solution. It?s capable of monitoring your mobile devices to ensure that all of them are using the latest versions of applications and operating systems, as well as giving you an easy way to provide access to important data, whitelisting and blacklisting functionality, and the ability to remotely wipe compromised devices. ConnectivityThe main draw of mobile devices is that they can be taken out of the office and used on the go. How will your employees use their mobile devices to access company data? The option to use a public Wi-Fi connection might be attractive at first, since it can let your users access your cloud solution. Yet, even this convenience can be considered a detriment, as public Wi-Fi is a well-known attack medium for hackers. You can never know who else is on the network, or what kinds of nasty threats are waiting for you to slip up and make a mistake. This is a situation when you?ll be happy to have a virtual private network (VPN) at your disposal. You can access your network?s data via an encrypted connection, which keeps hackers from tampering with your data while it?s in transit. A VPN works by encrypting the data (turning it into a jumbled mess that?s impossible to decipher) using military-grade cryptology. Cloud AccessCloud solutions let your organization collaborate and share files across a number of different mobile devices. Most important of all, you can take these devices on the go so that you can be productive anytime, anywhere. Depending on the solution, you can have tight control over who can access files, and protect your data from getting picked up if the mobile device gets lost or stolen. There are several different types of cloud solutions, so if you?re serious about finding the best one for your business, you should reach out to White Mountain IT Services. To learn more about how to get the most out of your organization?s mobile devices, call us today at (603) 889-0800.

In the past, break-fix IT was the way to go. Businesses would take their broken technology to a provider only when it needed to be fixed. While this used to work, it quickly became a time sink that led to decreased productivity and increased data loss. Businesses lost money through replacing mission-critical technology that could have been preserved through preventative maintenance, and the downtime that resulted, crippled their IT budgets. Managed IT services is an option that all SMBs need to consider. Rather than taking the traditional break-fix approach to IT, where technology solutions are only fixed when they?re not working properly, managed IT solutions desire to take preventative measures to guarantee functionality and prevent major problems from happening in the first place. Managed services is an all-encompassing term that refers to solutions that can be hosted and managed by a third-party so that your organization doesn?t have to worry about them. A third-party MSP makes sure that your technology gets the attention that it needs, when it needs it. Consider this analogy: your automobile starts to make strange sounds. You hear the sound of grinding and the engine is spitting and sputtering. You want to get it checked out, but you just don?t have the money to do so. You continue to drive it until it breaks down in earnest, and you have to purchase a new automobile. However, if you took the time to get the maintenance that the vehicle needs in order to stay functional, you might have avoided the immense cost of replacing it. You can think of a managed service provider as your own personal crew of mechanics that work on your car overnight, allowing you to drive a vehicle that?s as good as new day-in and day-out. This is what managed IT seeks to accomplish. Through preventative maintenance, you can stave off a hardware failure for as long as possible. When a server does inevitably fail, you?ll have a fallback plan to rapidly restore data in a moment?s notice. Or, better yet, just replace the device before it falters, and keep operations moving forward without experiencing a major downtime incident. You?ll have ways to keep your business functioning smoothly even when the world is against you. White Mountain IT Services can provide your business with managed services designed to optimize operations and minimize the opportunity for downtime and other wasteful IT expenditures. To learn more, reach out to us at (603) 889-0800.

In fact, considering all of the holidays enforced by the Catholic Church, and life events like weddings and births that required celebration and time off from work, the medieval peasant worked, on average, a mere 150 days per year. This translates to more than half of the year being spent not working. To be sure, working only 150 days sounds pretty sweet. This leads us to ask a tantalizing question: given the chance, would you give up modern conveniences and adopt the medieval lifestyle in order to gain an extra 110 days off? When approaching this hypothetical scenario, the first thing you must realize is that, for medieval peasants, these were not paid days off. Therefore, adopting the medieval work schedule would mean not having enough funds to travel or do the pricy leisure activities afforded modern workers. To give you an idea of your time-off options as a medieval peasant, consider how they spent their downtime. Essentially, they tried to make the best of it by attending local events (sort of like a staycation). Also, the pace of life for the medieval peasant was much, much slower; they would take their sweet time when it came to eating meals together (fast food and microwaves were obviously not a thing), and afternoon naps were super common. Lynn Parramore of Evonomics gives this assessment of how peasants spent their time off: ?Weddings, wakes and births might mean a week off quaffing ale to celebrate, and when wandering jugglers or sporting events came to town, the peasant expected time off for entertainment.? Okay, so this poor-yet-pleasant life of leisure doesn’t sound too bad, and perhaps even appealing for most. But you might change your mind when you consider the treacherous downsides of, you know, being a medieval peasant. Here?s a short list of medieval dangers from History Extra magazine: Plague: The deadly bubonic plague caused oozing swellings (buboes) all over the body. With the septicaemic plague, victims suffered from skin that was darkly discoloured (turning black) as a result of toxins in the bloodstream. Famine: Faced with dwindling food supplies due to bad weather and poor harvests, people starved or barely survived on meagre rations like bark, berries and inferior corn and wheat damaged by mildew. Childbirth: Giving birth was incredibly perilous. Breech presentations of the baby during labour often proved fatal for both mother and child. Labour could go on for several days, and some women eventually died of exhaustion. Infancy and childhood: Infancy was particularly dangerous during the Middle Ages ? mortality was terribly high. Based on surviving written records alone, scholars have estimated that 20-to-30 percent of children under seven died, but the actual figure is almost certainly higher. Violence: Medieval violence took many forms. Street violence and brawls in taverns were not uncommon. Vassals might also revolt against their lords. Likewise, urban unrest also led to uprisings. Early or sudden death: Sudden or premature death was common in the medieval period… Peasants in the English manor of Halesowen might hope to reach the age of 50, but by contrast poor tenants in the same manor could hope to live only about 40 years. Those of even lower status (cottagers) could live a mere 30 years. So, from a civilization standpoint, there appears to be a trade off. A […]