Recent Blog Posts

There are some things that need to be let go, and according to Microsoft, one of those is unsupported operating systems. As ZDNet reports, the US Navy is spending an estimated $9 million this year on getting custom support from Microsoft for Windows XP. $9 million. To emphasize how much cash that is, it has six – count ?em, SIX – zeros. $9,000,000. The deal is said to run for a maximum of three years, and offers critical security patches and updates for Windows XP, Office 2003, and Windows Server 2003, which is slated for expiration this July. The navy takes advantage of several legacy applications that aren?t compatible with more recent operating systems, which is making it difficult for them to upgrade. In the meantime, they?re doing what they can to improve operations, while shelling out the big bucks for continued support. The deal is expected to run until July 2016, but just in case, they have plans to continue until 2017. You don?t need us to tell you that it?s a huge expense that could have been avoided. We realize we?re beating a dead horse by continuously nagging about upgrading away from Windows XP; and honestly, if you haven?t upgraded yet, you?ve already taken serious risks with your business?s continuity. In general, you always, always want to be using a supported operating system. Of course, this story about the navy emphasizes the consequences of running unsupported software, but it also presents a unique foresight into why some users might be reluctant to upgrade right away; namely, compatibility with legacy applications. Some software is simply so outdated that it doesn?t work on newer technology. Sometimes these applications are absolutely mission-critical, and imperative to the success of your business. When this happens, you?re stuck in a conundrum; either upgrade and replace the solution, or run an unsupported operating system that?s vulnerable to the many threats that are found on the Internet. Such an agonizing choice can be avoided with proper consultation and foresight, like that which White Mountain IT Services offers. With the end of Windows Server 2003?s support on July 14th, you can avoid a similar debacle by contacting White Mountain IT Services for a free IT consultation. We can examine your legacy applications and hardware to ensure that it?s compatible with a more recent server operating system. If it?s not, we?ll outline your choices and help you decide on a plan of action. Give us a call at (603) 889-0800 to learn more.

Security using facial-recognition technology isn?t a new thing – in 2000, the Passface system used a similar concept, where it replaced passwords with a series of pictures based on your friends and family. This was somewhat effective, but those who could figure out the pattern were able to get into the system fairly easily. Facelock is a new concept of facial-recognition technology. Instead of concentrating on technology that lets you define pictures in a specific pattern, it concentrates on whether or not you can identify familiar faces. In other words, the faces you know can help you keep your system safe from intruders, rather than just being another code for a hacker to crack. Unless a hacker can tap into your memory, they probably can?t crack your Facelock password. How Does It Work?Facelock presents the user with various face arrays. It is the user?s job to identify the familiar face amongst the unfamiliar ones. These arrays can be shown in different orders with faces scattered in different positions. What makes this any different than Passface is the human mind?s ability to detect familiar faces, regardless of appearance, in different images. Even if a hacker is able to identify which picture you guessed, they are unlikely to identify the image in a different picture. What a Face-full!This technology backs up its bark with its bite. A study was done on over 400 participants, which included account holders, stranger attackers, and familiar attackers. These tests were conducted over the course of one-week and one-year increments. Account holders were asked to choose the faces of several lesser-known celebrities in a narrow field; this mitigates the chance that threats will be able to access the system. Results showed that after just one week of using this technology, 97.5 percent of users could authenticate their accounts, while stranger hackers succeeded less than one percent of the time. This number jumped to 6.6 percent for attackers that knew the victims personally. And, after a full year of working with the software, 86 percent of all users were able to authenticate. The test also examined whether attackers could authenticate with different photos of the same people. Unless the photos were of distinctive people with very prominent features, such as a bald head or round glasses, hackers were unable to identify pictures of the same people. Keep in mind, as great as this technology is, it isn?t really a good fit for business devices that may need support and troubleshooting. If your help desk technicians aren?t in your circle of friends, they won?t be able to log into your device to help you solve your problem. It?s a fairly simple concept – passwords don?t work for humans, and the existence of a ?Forgot password?? prompt reinforces this. But, does facial recognition take this a bit too far? Is two-factor authentication enough for you? Let us know in the comments.

TechRepublic lists several of these misconceptions surrounding the smartphone battery. You might even be guilty of believing these yourself. Batteries Can?t Be ?Trained? to Perform BetterSome folks believe that you can train your battery to perform better, given enough time and conditioning. This simply isn?t true. There is no way to train your battery to perform better at a certain percentage. Therefore, if your charger is only at a meager 80 percent, there?s no reason not to top it off if you?re going on a business trip. Still, despite this fact, letting it go uncharged for a night might be of some benefit to your battery. Some people believe that leaving your phone plugged in overnight can damage the battery, so if you?re truly unsure about this, just leave it somewhere between 40 to 80 percent overnight. Off-Brand Chargers Can?t Damage Your BatteryMany people believe that an off-brand charger that you bought from your local big-box store can actually cause irreparable damage to your battery. This isn?t necessarily true. Just because the quality of the charge suffers, doesn?t mean that your battery is damaged. Since chargers aren?t made specifically for your device, it?s only natural that your phone will receive a better charge from the charger that came with it. While a $5 charger might be useful in a pinch, you get what you pay for with off-brand chargers. Using Your Phone While It?s Charging is FineWhen you use your device, it drains some of the battery power. This is why some people believe that using a phone while it?s charging will decrease the quality of the charge. According to TechRepublic, this only happens if you?re using the worst of the off-brand chargers. Instead, you should be fine using your phone while it charges. It might charge more slowly, but the quality of the charge should be around the same as if you weren?t using it. Besides, even when you aren?t using your phone, there are processes that continue running in the background, eating away at your battery. Why not use a little more and be productive at the same time? Give Your Phone a Break and Turn It OffLike any other device that takes advantage of a lithium-ion battery, it?s a good idea to turn off your phone once in a while. If you think about it, there?s nothing bad that can come from giving your battery a break; the reason people might feel this way is because the battery drains while it?s off, but that?s only natural for batteries. In fact, turning off your device is good for its battery, not harmful. Are you guilty of believing any of these misconceptions? Let us know in the comments.

Dave Merkel, senior vice president and CTO of security agency FireEye, tells Aimee Chanthadavong of ZDNet that organizations are spending more on technology to protect against hacking, but are still behind: ?… one of the reasons behind this is because online attacks are often misunderstood as a technology problem, when it’s not. In turn, organizations look in the wrong places for solutions.? Naturally, security solutions are only as effective as the techs who integrate them. Are they configured properly, and are they continuously being updated with the latest threat definitions? Are your systems up to date, and have the latest vulnerability patches been applied? These are all the responsibilities of the technician, and if these routine maintenances aren?t performed, even the latest security protocol can?t help you. In other words, technology alone isn?t going to be the solution to your hacking woes. Even with maximum security, hacks are still going to happen, because there are people behind the attacks designing it. Ultimately, it takes the knowledge of people to fight against the knowledge of criminals. It takes skilled IT technicians who know their way around common problems to mitigate the damage done, or prevent security breaches altogether. To this end, White Mountain IT Services can help your business achieve maximum security by equipping it with professional IT technicians, as well as the technology and security practices required to keep your business safe. We work tirelessly, monitoring your network for suspicious signs and threats so you don?t have to. We take preventative measures to keep your business functioning with minimal incident. One solution used to optimize security is a Unified Threat Management (UTM) solution. This is a comprehensive security solution designed to provide your business?s network with the power to avoid discrepancies and data breaches as often as possible. With a UTM, you get an enterprise-level firewall and antivirus solution, coupled with spam blocking to keep dangerous messages from reaching your inbox, and content filtering to protect from dangerous online threats. With both the knowledge and technology to fight against threats, hackers won?t stand a chance. Let White Mountain IT Services help you today by calling (603) 889-0800.

As reported by ZDNet, research from Forrester has revealed that only 28 percent of IT investment is used for innovation, and the rest of the resources are dedicated to taking care of older technology. This should come as a surprise. You?d think that most companies would be on the lookout for quality tech solutions that are designed to improve their ability to innovate, but it seems that many are so stuck on their legacy technology that they simply don?t have the funds (or interest) available to do so. When you run legacy technology, you?re taking many unnecessary risks. For example, an old server unit is much more likely to break down when you least expect it. This could lead to unprecedented data loss if you?re unprepared. Furthermore, the downtime caused by unexpected hardware failure can be detrimental to the survival of your business. All of this can be avoided by updating your server hardware to hardware that?s less likely to fail, provided proper maintenance is performed. Another example is running an outdated operating system, like Windows XP, on your workstations. Microsoft no longer supports many older operating systems, which means they don?t run with the latest patches and security updates that are necessary to stay protected from the myriad of threats that want to attack your network. By upgrading to the latest operating system, you avoid the threats that come with remaining unsupported. As technology innovators ourselves, we know how hard it can be to let go of familiar old technology and place your bets on something new; but we also know the immense value of leaving legacy technology behind. One way you can get the most from your technology is with a consultation from White Mountain IT Services. We can visit your office and conduct a thorough audit of your office?s technology assets. We suggest changes that can be made, and offer our services to those who are in need. The main benefit of running with White Mountain IT Services is that you experience the cost savings that come with managed IT solutions. We can perform any number of functions that an in-house IT department would be responsible for, like upgrading workstations and server units, backing up and restoring data, and much, much more. The attraction of managed IT is that you only pay a fixed rate for the services, rather than a break-fix fee every time you need a machine looked at or replaced. Just give us a call at (603) 889-0800 to learn more.