Types of Cloud SolutionsImplementing the cloud into your current business model is easier said than done. In order to get the best return on investment for your cloud technology, you need to take your various options into account. We?ve outlined some basic information about the various types of cloud computing your business should know about. Public cloud: The public cloud is a solution that?s designed to maximize efficiency for the user. The management and maintenance of the public cloud is handled by the provider. This is great for businesses that want a hands-off cloud experience at the expense of control over data. Private cloud: The private cloud is often hosted either in-house or by an outsourced IT provider. As such, they require proper management and maintenance to ensure functionality. The private cloud is preferred by companies that want to maximize data security and want the most control over their data. Hybrid cloud: The hybrid cloud is a solid middle ground for users who don?t want to exchange data security for operational efficiency. What to ConsiderIn order to make the most educated decision you can, we recommend taking the following variables into account when choosing your cloud solution. Data security: Businesses that want to maximize data security will appreciate the private cloud. The private cloud allows for additional security measures, like secondary hardware-based security solutions, that can maximize the security of your data. Access control: If you don?t want that much control over your data, the public cloud is a good choice. However, users who want to maximize access control and role-based user access will want to invest in a private or hybrid cloud. Management responsibility: Just like other computing hardware and software, a cloud solution requires a certain expertise that should be administered by a qualified IT technician. If you don?t want this responsibility, the public cloud is for you; though it should be mentioned that a hybrid cloud allows your business to take advantage of the many benefits of both private and public clouds. White Mountain IT Services can help your business integrate and adjust to a new cloud computing solution. We can assist and consult your team through each and every step of the cloud adoption process. To learn more, give us a call at (603) 889-0800.

Hold the PhoneA lot can be said about the days of having one phone line per household that only allowed one person at a time to use the phone. This meant getting creative in order to ensure that the phone was available when you needed it. For example, if you were expecting a phone call, one sneaky trick was to call an automated phone service like your local movie theater for showtimes and then wait to hear the phone notify you that your call was coming in. This way, when someone else picked up another phone or walked by, they wouldn?t hear the dial tone. Use Collect Calls for Quick MessagesBack in the ?90s, collect phone calls were all the rage with dozens of collect call services like 1-800-COLLECT to choose from. If you remember how they worked, you would typically get a brief spot during the call setup where you were supposed to tell your name to the person you?re calling so they can accept the charges. Though unethical, many callers would use this portion of the call to relay a quick message and then hang up before the charges for the call could be applied. It was a dark time before text messages. \We all had to do what we had to do. Blow On Your Video Game to Make it WorkFor cartridge games, this was the go-to troubleshooting procedure. Even though blowing on the game seemed to have worked on many occasions, the science behind this doesn?t back it up–it actually corrodes the connectors. Instead, any success from this was likely the result of plugging in the game a second time. Keep a Disposable Camera in Your Car?s Glove CompartmentIn a time before everybody had a camera phone in their pocket, disposable cameras were widely used. One common place to keep a disposable camera was in your car?s glove compartment box, just in case you were to ever get in an accident and needed to document what took place–and then wait for hours at the local drug store to get your photos. Carry Extra AA Batteries for Your Portable CD PlayerListening to music on the go didn?t use to be nearly as convenient as it is today. Portable CD players required you to carry your CD collection, and if you were serious about listening to music, you would bring some extra batteries along for when your CD player ran out of juice. Some might look back at these obsolete tips with fondness, while others may see these tips as a cause to celebrate how far we?ve come. Do you have any more obsolete tech tips from the 90s to add to this list? Share them with us in the comments!

Once the file has been downloaded, Petya causes a Windows error and forces the system to endure the typical ?blue screen of death,? causing a reboot. The computer will then display a red skull and crossbones, and a fraudulent ?system check? infects and encrypts the master file table (MFT) with military-grade encryption protocol. This causes the computer to basically forget which files it has, and where they are stored. Rather than closing access to particular files, Petya completely locks the user out of the system by overwriting the computer?s master boot record. The computer is essentially rendered useless by the user, who can?t even log in. Petya will display a list of demands, as well as how to meet them. As is the case with most ransomware, the ransom must be paid in Bitcoin. Once this has been done, the criminal supplies a decryption key that?s used to regain access to the files. The initial cost for the decryption key is .99 Bitcoins, which is an estimated $430. However, paying for the decryption key isn?t that simple. Once the user accesses the payment page, they?re given a limited amount of time to access the key before the price is doubled. While there are some websites that claim there are commands that can allow users to skip the lock screen, the MFT will still be encrypted, rendering the files useless. Even if the user pays the ransom, there?s still no guarantee that the decryption key provided by the hackers will work. This is why we always suggest that you don?t pay the ransom, and instead contact a professional technician who can consult you on the situation. In particular, business owners and human resources representatives who are responsible for the hiring procedure are the preferred targets. Petya is distributed through emails that are disguised as potential job seekers. The message will often contain a hyperlink that redirects to a Dropbox containing a resume, which is really just a Trojan horse containing Petya that?s capable of weaseling its way past your antivirus solution. Petya had been causing significant trouble for German businesses, but a programmer has found a solution. Admittedly, it?s a tricky solution to implement, but it?s still preferable to paying a ransom. As is the case with most ransomware, your best chance of escaping unscathed is by dodging the attacks altogether. Ransomware is notoriously difficult to crack, even for seasoned IT veterans, but keeping a watchful eye on anything you find on the Internet can help you avoid infections. With White Mountain IT Services?s security solutions, you can proactively detect and eliminate threats to your IT infrastructure. To learn more, give us a call at (603) 889-0800.

The contraption used to hack garage doors is built from a discontinued Mattel toy from 2007: the IM ME. The IM ME is a supposedly secure wireless instant messaging system that works similar to a mobile phone. It was meant to be a kid-friendly, secure alternative to a mobile phone for texting. The IM ME stores an address book for other users of IM ME, and used an Internet connection to communicate with each other. If you look at it now, you wouldn’t be surprised to hear that it?s no longer supported and that it has no place in today?s computing world. Smartphones are largely more efficient and dynamic as communication tools. Just last year, it was discovered that the IM ME could be turned into a device that can hack into any garage door that?s using an unsecured fixed code transmitted from a remote, rather than one which uses a ?rolling code? that changes with every button press. This flaw was discovered by Samy Kamkar, an independent developer and technology consultant, who then proceeded to exploit the flaw to demonstrate its danger. He built the device using the IM ME as a base model, then added a simple antennae and open-source hardware attachment. Kamkar, calling his device OpenSesame, explains that his device works differently from what are called ?code grabbers.? An ordinary code grabber will snatch the code from the garage door button when it?s pressed, and reuse it to open the door at a later time. This requires the hacker to be present when the button is pressed (similar code grabbers also exist for automobile key fobs, which is a pretty scary concept on its own). OpenSesame can accomplish this same goal without being near the user, which makes it much more dangerous. The most dangerous part of this hacking experiment is the fact that any hacker can walk up to a vulnerable garage door and have it open in around eight seconds. As reported by WIRED: Using a straightforward cracking technique, it still would have taken Kamkar?s program 29 minutes to try every possible code. But Kamkar improved his attack by taking out wait periods between code guesses, removing redundant transmissions, and finally using a clever optimization that transmitted overlapped codes, what?s known as a De Bruijn sequence. With all those tweaks, he was able to reduce the attack time from 1,771 seconds to a mere eight seconds. If you?re curious about how Kamkar?s device works, you can watch this video to see the device in action. Furthermore, if you want to see if your own garage door is vulnerable, you can view this video where he goes into detail about which doors are vulnerable, and why. This more than proves the fact that hackers engage in some dangerous and unpredictable acts, and that the Internet of Things continues to be a major reason for this. With so many more devices connecting to the Internet and communicating with each other with near-field communications and Bluetooth, the situation could very quickly turn into a nightmare scenario for your business. If your network isn?t prepared to handle the dangers and threats that come from unregulated Internet of Things devices, it?s a very real possibility that your organization could suffer a data breach or worse. It?s your responsibility to ensure […]

The problem is that both a lack of electricity and Internet connectivity can lead to downtime, which is a well-known culprit for breaking budgets. Without electricity, your building’s technology cannot function, and without the Internet, your cloud-connected systems will be inaccessible. In both cases, productivity ceases, and you?re left without access to mission critical files. Your organization should be prepared to deal with these worst-case scenarios, which means you should have contingencies put into place to prevent downtime from sudden power or Internet outages. So, how can you bounce back from a power outage or an Internet connection problem? For starters, don?t immediately send your employees home. You only want to do this if you?re absolutely sure that there isn?t any work that needs to get done in the office. If you think that the Internet or power outage won?t last very long, you can probably get around wasting time by using this chance to take care of often-forgotten in-house tasks. Here are some ideas for helping you through your outage: Hold Staff MeetingsHave you ever canceled a staff meeting last minute due to an unforeseen phone call? If you don?t need technology to hold a staff meeting, there?s no better time than during an outage. If you can?t do anything anyway, you might as well talk about important initiatives, team building, or consistent issues within the workplace that need to be addressed. Think of it as a really convenient inconvenience! Organize and Clean Your OfficeThere?s a saying in the service industry that applies here: if you have time to lean, you have time to clean. Instead of having your staff sitting around waiting for services to be restored, you can have them tidy up the office and clean up their own personal workplaces. If your team needs an excuse to stay in the office to make financial obligations, you can put them to work. Catch Up On Employee EvaluationsIf you haven?t had time to catch up on employee evaluations, and you have some time to spare in between trying to fix the outage, you can take some time to tell your employees how they?re doing and what can be improved upon. Critically evaluate your employees so that they know how to improve their work performance. By the time you?ve finished, you?ll have a better idea of how your team is doing, and what you can do to make it better. If All Else Fails, Send Your Team HomeDowntime isn?t easy to overcome, and sometimes the only option that you have is to send your team home for the day. Even if this doesn?t feel like an option, and you have important work that needs to get done, there?s always the option of letting them work remotely, should they be equipped with the technology to do so. Either way, the more time that your team wastes sitting around waiting for the outage to be resolved, the more time and revenue that?s wasted. While making the best of downtime might be your only option, at White Mountain IT Services, we consider downtime to be an emergency. If your network or a critical part of your IT infrastructure goes down, leaving your employees high and dry, our technicians go into emergency mode. If your business wants to learn more about how to prevent downtime, give […]