Coleman Technologies Blog

Shadow IT
In a lot of ways, productivity is a lot like the thing it produces, money. People will do anything to get more of it. Businesses, have a plan; and, while they also want to maximize productivity and money, they typically don’t put their whole enterprise in jeopardy to get a little bit more of it. Shadow IT is the process in which an employee will download and use a piece of software that hasn’t been tested or passed by a company’s IT administrator to try and get a little more done.

Often times, the employee is just showing initiative, with no real knowledge that by downloading and utilizing a certain off-brand software that they have just put their whole business in danger. This wouldn’t be such a major deal if it was an isolated incident, but studies show that nearly 80 percent of all employees admit to utilizing software that wasn’t selected, tested, and released for use by their IT administrator. These apps may have vulnerabilities that would-be infiltrators can take advantage of. That is why it is important to utilize the software that has been vetted by the company, even if that means losing out on a bit of productivity.

Cryptojacking
There are well over 1,500 different cryptocurrencies, and in 2018 crytojacking, the strategy of using malware to use a target computer’s resources to mine for cryptocurrency was a major problem for businesses. Since this is a computationally complex task, it significantly reduces the computer’s effectiveness and longevity. As a result, cryptojacking has become en vogue for hackers and others looking to mine cryptocurrency without the investment necessary to do it.

Most studies show that the effect of cryptojacking could get way worse in 2019 since the value of cryptocurrency has fallen significantly over the past year. This means more machines mining for crypto are necessary, and thus more attacks. Users are just learning how these attacks are carried out and how to protect their business against them.

Ransomware
While there was a reported reduction in the number of ransomware cases in 2018, it still remains a major concern for any business looking to build a comprehensive network security strategy. Ransomware, of course, is a strain of malware that encrypts parts of or entire computing systems and then demands payment in cryptocurrency in a set amount of time for safe return of the files/access.

Hackers using ransomware have taken to targeting healthcare organizations’ networks for the breadth of the sensitive data they hold on them. They’ve also began to target operational technology systems, since, as with healthcare, costs of restoration of these systems (rather than payment) are prohibitive. This produces a little more urgency to get the problem resolved.

Unsecured Internet of Things
The Internet of Things keeps expanding, but so does the security threats to networks as a result of security-light devices. With more and more devices presenting security problems for businesses and individuals alike, it becomes important to ascertain exactly what devices are present on your network at any given time. Remember, even if a security-less IoT device is connected to a network-attached smartphone, it still offers up a major vulnerability.

While this is a major threat, there has been a push to improve the security of IoT devices as of late. With more security-minded companies developing useful smart products, these concerns will begin to take a back seat. But until that shift has been well documented, you’ll want to be diligent in the manner in which you utilize IoT devices.

Phishing
No business goes very long without getting some type of phishing email. In fact, it is estimated that 156 million phishing emails are sent every day, making it the most used practice by hackers everywhere. The way it works is that since most accounts are secure enough not to be guessed outright, hackers search for ways for people to help them gain access to the accounts they want to get in to. Nearly every successful cyber attack begins with a successful phishing scheme.

A specific example called business email compromise (BEC) which targets specific members of an organization is responsible for over $12 billion in losses across the globe. Once thought to be an email scam that could be mitigated with strong spam filters, today’s phishing scam is taking on a new shape by utilizing text messaging, instant messaging, phone calls, and even the seemingly-benign social media quiz to gain access to business networks.

2019 is lining up to be another stellar year for business technology, and as more tech is used, more threats come with them. If you would like any more information about how to prioritize network security, give our IT experts a call at (604) 513-9428 today.

The Smartwatch
The smartwatch market as we know it today has existed for almost a decade, surprisingly enough, but the first smartwatch was developed in the late ‘90s. A smartwatch is seen today as more of a peripheral for a smartphone. They come in several different shapes, sizes, and styles, but they all tend to provide some kind of utility to the user. Here are some of the main benefits of using a smartwatch:

• Convenience: You can’t beat the convenience of checking your watch and getting access to all kinds of information, like notifications, calendar events, and so much more. Modern smartwatches also give users the ability to search for information, and the processing power of these devices gives smartwatch users the ability to perform several actions that a smartphone can accomplish.
• Functionality: The latest smartwatches have several features that give users lots of functionality. They can integrate with applications and take advantage of other practical functions, making them as useful as you want them to be. In this way, smartwatch manufacturers continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible with wearable technologies.
• Discretion: Discretion is probably the most important part of using a smartwatch, as it’s much easier and more discreet to use it than pulling out a smartphone. Most smartphones have the capability to push notifications to your smartwatch, including those from social networks, messages, weather, and so on. More than anything else, it at least keeps you from being rude and checking your smartphone in the middle of a conversation.

Security Issues
The primary issue that comes from wearable technology is that it connects to your mobile device through a Bluetooth connection. Since they also connection to Wi-Fi networks, they are being exposed to two potential ways of being breached. Businesses that prioritize security (read: all businesses should prioritize security) need to be particularly wary of wearables, especially in regard to a Bring Your Own Device policy.

The modern hacker will use any opportunity they can find to hack into a device, and since wearables are particularly vulnerable to this due to the modes of connection they contain, they provide additional access points that create issues for businesses. If a hacker can gain access through an application at the wearable level, it could potentially compromise even the connected device and any network it’s attached to.

Industry experts might agree that the lack of wearable security isn’t a major concern overall, but it’s still something that you should be addressing with your business’ mobile device policy. Here are some ideas to think about:

• If you are accidentally collecting electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI), you could be putting your organization at risk of breaching healthcare standards set by HIPAA. You should limit your employee’s fitness and wellness data collection on company-owned wearables and devices whenever possible.
• Be wary of what can happen if you fail to educate your employees about the importance of protecting wearables. Be sure to remind them that they aren’t just putting business data at risk, but also their own individual data. It’s imperative that your employees understand how to best protect these devices.
• Focus on the management of these devices, as there are no proper anti-malware solutions for IoT devices.

For assistance with planning out a wearable strategy for use with your Bring Your Own Device policy, be sure to reach out to us at (604) 513-9428.

1. Compliance Concerns
First, you need to be sure that your data is not only stored securely but is also sent back and forth to your backup solution properly. This is especially true if your industry is subject to any government mandates concerning how data must be handled, as the penalties for non-compliance can be just as severe as the influence of data loss would be.

Whether you manage your own solution or leverage a vendor to keep your data securely backed-up, the same severity applies. The size of your business has no influence, either, despite many smaller organizations having a difficult time keeping up with these regulations. These businesses are especially benefited by the availability of outsourced IT resources, as these providers are better prepared to see to these compliances and minimize any risk.

2. Costs and Scalability
It is also important to recognize your needs, including the costs that fulfilling those needs may incur (like how much a cloud provider charges for you to download your backed-up data). Before you select a particular cloud provider, make sure that you have considered all of these charges.

Furthermore, a backup solution that can only keep you safe from major disasters is one that overlooks a huge percentage of the actual issues you are apt to face. Sure, ransomware attacks and fires happen, but so do hard drive failures and other causes of small-scale data loss. Every strategy you enact needs to be documented properly, with useful information shared clearly, succinctly, and actionably.

3. Lack of Management or Testing
If your company is ever in the position that it needs to lean on a data backup, they’re going to need to lean on a leader to ensure that this process goes without a hitch. In many cases, this role would fall on your shoulders - but what if something goes down while you (or whoever is in charge of managing the recovery process) aren’t there?

This is why you need to keep a comprehensive, up-to-date plan prepared for just this occasion, a hard copy ready to be referenced on-site as well as one digitally stored in your backup files.

In addition to this preparation, you also need to make sure that the backups you’ve prepared actually work in the first place. A backup will do you no good if you can’t recover the data from it, after all. Make sure that, just as you would a fire drill, you practice utilizing the backup on occasion.

How Coleman Technologies Can Help
We have the expertise and capability to put together just this kind of strategy for you and your employees to leverage. That way, you can be confident that your disaster recovery won’t just be a new disaster to deal with. Reach out to us at (604) 513-9428 to learn more today.

The Pros
There is more than one application and way to use automation. While the uses are more general than specific, they can be applied to several different kinds of goals or processes, whether it’s customer service or data processing. In this sense, automation can be used in a pretty universal way.

Efficiency
It’s obvious that certain processes take a considerable amount of time to complete, but if they are handled by automated systems, they can be completed much more efficiently than before. In other words, since you don’t have to focus on these tasks, you can instead devote the time to something else entirely. This effectively adds more time to the workday by removing routine tasks that can be handled by an automatic process.

Minimizing Repetition
If someone has to do the same task over and over again, they are doomed to lose interest and make mistakes. If these tasks don’t require focus, then the employees will likely let their mind wander, and productivity can suffer. This makes even a quick task more likely to be repeated multiple times, making it less likely to yield a return on the investment. Automation makes it more convenient and less risky to leave monotonous tasks to employees. Trust us when we say employees will thank you for taking these tasks off their plate and freeing up their schedule for others.

Convenience
When someone reaches out to your business, it’s likely they need your help with something, and they need it fast. If you can’t provide it on a convenient time frame, chances are they will take their needs elsewhere. Automation gives them the ability to get help from a chatbot or other similar automated system without the need to staff someone at all times to address immediate needs. This gives you a better chance at being able to respond to their needs when they reach out to your organization.

Potential Cons
Automation might be quite helpful for businesses, but there are some issues that should be addressed in order to ensure it doesn’t become a liability for your business. For example, some processes are simply too complex for a machine to handle in the same way a human brain can. Most automated systems are limited by design, thus ensuring that they will be limited to the task assigned to them. After all, an automated system’s purpose isn’t being fulfilled if you have to provide constant feedback to it. Here are some ways you can make sure the faults of automation sting less:

• Use automation sparingly: Some of the services that could be automated likely don’t need to be. This is particularly true for more complex issues. Consider that many of the people who contact your business have a point of contact within your organization and regular requests, meaning that working with a human might not be such a bad thing if they are available at that time. In this way, automation supplements human contact rather than replaces it.
• Have employees direct the automation: If an automation system can’t perform a task on its own, having employees direct it during more complex tasks can work to mitigate the issue. A complicated request can be made, but still processed and understood with the right direction.
• Ingrate your automation: You don’t want to stop processes midway. As long as your automation is well-designed and thought-out, tasks can be integrated with automation to ensure they are handled in the most complete way possible.

What are some ways your organization can benefit from automation? Let us know in the comments.

Threat Background
This botnet was initially discovered in September. Since then, it has infected devices to support a huge spam email campaign. BCMUPnP_Hunter is able to zero-in on victims thanks to its ability to scan for potential targets, like routers with the BroadCom University Plug and Play feature enabled. The system can then be taken over by the hacker.

It is assumed that the network created by BCMUPnP_Hunter was created to send out spam emails. The threat creates a proxy that communicates with email servers, allowing attackers to use botnets to generate profit through fraudulent clicks. What’s more is that the malware seems to have been created by someone who has a considerable amount of skill. To make things worse is that BCMUPnP_Hunter also appears to scan from over 100,000 sources, making this botnet quite large.

How Does This Prove That Patches Aren’t Working?
In order for BCMUPnP_Hunter to work as intended, it must target devices that have BroadcomUPnP enabled to take advantage of a vulnerability. The thing is that this vulnerability has been patched since 2013 when it was first discovered, meaning that most manufacturers have issued a patch since then. Therefore, the majority of devices being used by this threat are those that haven’t been patched for some reason or another.

The Lesson Learned
A simple lesson can be learned here. It goes to show that any equipment on your infrastructure that’s not maintained could be putting your business at risk. This includes making sure that you implement patches and security updates as soon as they are released. Of course, they aren’t always broadcast to the public--after all, who would want to admit that the product they have created is vulnerable to attack, and that the vulnerability is being exploited? As a business owner, it’s your responsibility to keep up with the latest threats.

Granted, not all business owners have the time or luxury to focus on something like this. For those who want to minimize the threat posed by vulnerabilities, give the IT professionals at Coleman Technologies a call at (604) 513-9428.

We’re here to help your organization make better use of its wireless connection.

The Router
Your router will determine the general range of your wireless network, as well as its security. Depending on your business’ specific needs, a router can be a tricky investment. You have to consider several aspects, including how much range you need and what kind of options are available for it. Here are some of the variables you’ll need to consider:

• It is within your budgetary constraints
• It supports Internet speeds you pay for
• The space your router needs to cover
• The devices the router has to support
• Ensure that any router you choose supports WPA2 encryption

Once you’ve determined which router you’re going with, you can set it up in a place that is most effective for your purposes. If you want your router to broadcast a signal through your entire office, you’ll need to test it out and see how the location works. Try to find a nice central location. If the router doesn’t work as intended in specific parts of the office, you might need to include a Wi-Fi repeater to get the range you’re looking for.

The Repeater
If your signal isn’t extending as far as you’d like, a repeater (or extender) can be used to extend the wireless signal to reach a larger area. This way, the signal will reach any area you need it to reach. A Wi-Fi repeater contains two wireless routers. One of them picks up the wireless signal coming off of your network’s central router, while the other picks up the signal and transmits it in much the same way as your network’s central router. Thankfully, the wireless repeater only needs to be in a location within the broadcasting range of the central router. Just plug it into an average outlet and you’re good to go.

Security
Security is another important part of your business’ wireless network that requires you to think about it during the setup phase. The router doesn’t necessarily have to be hard to set up, though. First, make sure you have WPA2 encryption turned on. Some models don’t default to this and instead use the ineffective Wireless Equivalent Privacy (WEP) encryption that can be broken through easily enough. With WPA2, you’ll be much more secure.

Next, you want to name your wireless network to something that can help you identify it, as well as assign a complex password to defend it. This ensures that only those who need the network for work will be logging onto it, and that they will know which network belongs to your organization if multiple are available. Once you’ve finished with this task, you want to enable the router’s firewall. Doing this provides an additional layer of protection against potential threats.

One more thing: be sure to change the admin’s password on the actual router, as most default passwords can simply be looked up online.

For more information on how to optimize the use you get out of your business’ wireless connection, reach out to us at (604) 513-9428.

If you don’t have guards or security cameras in place, you’re more likely to suffer from a physical security breach, which can be just as devastating as a digital breach. Ask yourself how comprehensive your security really is. After all, the new year has just hit, so why not use it as an opportunity to protect your business’ physical assets? With so many cyber threats out there these days, it’s no surprise that organizations focus on the digital aspect of security, but some people are just old-fashioned and would rather infiltrate a business the traditional way.

It’s also important to keep in mind that not everyone is going to be the perfect employee. You might have a couple of bad apples in the bunch that see technology and want it for themselves. In this case, digital security might not mean much, but physical security like locked doors and so on could make all the difference in keeping them from making decisions that are bad for both themselves and your business.

Basically, you need to take this two-pronged approach--one that considers both digital security and physical security--for the following reasons:

• Data access is restricted to those within your organization, but even the best employees make mistakes.
• A tiered approach means that employees only have permission to access data they need for their immediate work responsibilities.
• Knowing who is accessing devices and data, as well as when they are doing so, can help you to resolve issues as they occur.

Let’s consider a couple of scenarios where it helps to have physical and digital security. Access control limits who can access specific information, so if the data is corrupt or missing, then you’ll have a clear idea for who is responsible for it. On the off-chance that it wasn’t the employee, then you know their credentials have been stolen and abused by a cybercriminal. Access monitoring is helpful for this, as it can also determine when someone is accessing data, as well as where they are located. Thus, if someone from another country is accessing data in the wee hours of the morning, it’s likely that you have a digital security problem on your hands.

As far as physical security goes, consider what would happen if you didn’t keep track of who checks out devices. For example, let’s say you have company laptops that can be checked out for use by your employees. If you’re not keeping track of who checks out what device, you’ll never know who currently has the devices in their possession, as well as when they were last taken out. It makes it astonishingly easy to get away with stealing a device.

Therefore, in order to make sure that you’re keeping your data as secure as possible from all avenues of attacks, we recommend you work with the folks from Coleman Technologies. We can help you ensure security. To learn more, reach out to us at (604) 513-9428.

Smarter Machines?
The first thing you have to understand about machine learning is that it is just a branch of A.I. As such, it basically describes a method of analyzing huge amounts of data in which prospective models of problem solving are automated. In layman’s terms, the computer solves basic problems without human intervention. This is significant for a few reasons, but the most glaring is that businesses today, and even small businesses, take in a lot of data. Traditionally, humans were paid to go through all this data, or it was archived and disregarded until there was a major question.

This shift is in the manner in which these machine learning systems analyze data, identify patterns, and make decisions from the analysis of those patterns.This seemingly advanced technology is being deployed at a dizzying rate and is beginning to surround us all, in our phones, on search engines, and in the systems that we manage our business data. For the small business, there are opportunities to utilize this technology to help carve out a larger market share.

Small Business Machine Learning
The philosophy behind utilizing machine learning for a business is just an extension of the overarching strategy of deploying automated systems to cut down on personnel and human resources costs. This strategy has worked in several sectors, albeit with automated systems that were more pre-programmed than “smart” like the machine learning systems.

An issue many small businesses will run into when deciding whether or not to try and innovate to the point where machine learning is an option, is where exactly it fits. Other questions persist as well. They include:

• What is the capital and operational investment of deploying this technology?
• How it will have to be utilized to provide a competitive advantage?
• What systems can be improved through the use of machine learning?
• How much time do you have until you would be at a competitive disadvantage if you didn’t invest in the technology?

Once you’ve ascertained how exactly to deploy machine learning, you can go ahead implementing it where you feel it is warranted.

Benefits of Machine Learning
A.I. and machine learning carry with it specific benefits. Some of them include:

• Forecasting business - What might be the most popular use of machine learning, the technology can be used to replace data and service analysis while being used to replace processes that were done manually or not done at all.
• Customer service - Chatbot technology essentially automates the customer service experience by directing customers to certain solutions based on query.
• E-commerce - Rolling out machine learning for your e-commerce site helps customers by adapting to customer behavior. Giving prospects and customers easy access to obtain the the products and services they are most interested in is sure to improve revenue generation.
• Reputation management - Machine learning can be set up to analyze internal and external data sources to monitor brand popularity. When it finds negative sentiment, you can use the information provided to smooth the situation over, fast.

These are only four of the many processes that can really help improve your business. As the technology improves, more A.I. and machine learning applications will be used to manage, maintain, and streamline a lot of your business’ slow-moving manual processes.

Machine Stupidity
These technologies are extremely advanced and are programmed to learn for themselves, so oversight of them may be difficult. If you are one of the many business owners that have a difficult time trusting technology, machine learning may not be for you. These constructs tend to be less predictable than typical analysis, because it is so thorough. Also, you may run into problems getting all of the data that needs to be analyzed into the system, providing results that may not be accurate for your entire business.

One could see how a small business owner can be in ‘wait and see” mode, but the problem with that strategy, however, is that your competitors may be using it now to improve their business. If you are interested in learning more about how this emerging technology can be used to make your business better, contact the professionals at Coleman Technologies today at (604) 513-9428.

There are lots of options for changing your display settings. To access these settings, click on the Start menu and select the gear icon for Settings. The first option on the Settings screen is System, where the first option is Display, so you’ll have no problem checking it out. Here are some of the options:

Change Your Screen’s Brightness
With this option, you can change--get this--your screen’s brightness! This is critical if you want your device’s battery to stay under control. There is a slider that you can use to adjust the screen’s brightness. Underneath this, you’ll see another option to turn on the Night Light. This makes the device’s screen turn to warmer colors to make it easier on the eyes at night. You can even schedule the night light to turn on at a specific time.

Scale and Layout
Under this option, you can change the default size of text and applications, among other things. There are several dropdowns under this heading that give you dynamic control over several aspects of your display, including the display’s resolution and the screen orientation.

Multiple Displays
One of the best ways you can get the most out of your monitors is by using more of them. If you have multiple monitors connected to your device, your settings will give you options for what to do with them. You can connect to them wirelessly, detect connected devices, and so much more. Just click on the links in your settings to learn more about what you can do, or reach out to us to learn more about what the settings mean.

Before you change any settings for your devices, if you have any questions about what they mean or why, consult professionals at Coleman Technologies who know what they are doing. It’s better than making a change and not knowing how to change it back.

Overall, changing up your display can be great for both your device’s battery and your productivity. For more great tips and tricks about how you can get the most out of your monitors and displays, reach out to us at (604) 513-9428.

There are a few kinds of vendors, offering various things to businesses like assorted supplies, equipment, and services. One kind of vendor that has grown increasingly crucial in particular, is that which delivers cloud services to businesses. Due to the expansion of the cloud’s utility in all kinds of business purposes, the choice of a vendor has also expanded in importance.

How to Select the Right Vendor, for Cloud Services and Otherwise
This is going to require some preemptive research and consideration of your own goals. Once you’ve determined your priorities in both the short and long-term, you and your IT resources should examine your available options to see which vendor is most compatible - and that’s in more ways than one.

Not only should your vendor offer what you need at a reasonable rate, there should be some consistency in the goals that your organization and theirs have. You also need to be able to trust your vendor to attend to the services agreed upon, whether that’s a managed agreement or a simple equipment procurement.

How Cloud Services are Different
However, your vendors for your cloud services should be held to a somewhat higher standard - after all, your data is going to be at stake. Therefore, it is important that they be graded differently than your other vendors would be.

Before committing to a cloud service provider; or a cloud strategy in earnest, there are two considerations that must be examined. First, what data is your vendor going to be able to access, and second, what applications can your vendor access as well?

After this initial consideration, you need to also take other factors into account, like how business-critical a said process is, how compliant they are to certain policies, and how much risk is involved in a given action. From there, you can establish if a particular cloud vendor is a good fit or not.

At Coleman Technologies, we can technically be considered a vendor ourselves, as we provide our managed services to other businesses. As such, we’d like you to consider us a candidate for your IT needs. Give us a call at (604) 513-9428 for more information.

Today, we aim to fix that. We will review why a Google account is so important to keep secure, as well as a few means and methods of doing so.

How a Google Account Can Be So Valuable
The purpose of the Internet has evolved greatly in the relatively few years it has been around. Today, the Internet is largely used as a communications and information sharing tool - true to its roots. This is where the name Internet comes from: inter (reciprocal or shared) and network (a system of connected things). However, as new purposes for the Internet emerged over time, circumstances changed, and the view of the Internet shifted.

The Internet was always meant for sharing information, from the very first inklings of an idea. In 1962, J.C.R. Licklider of MIT wrote up a series of memos that illustrated a system of interconnected computers, intended to share programs and data the world over, that he coined the “Galactic Network.” This idea of sharing information was also the driving force behind Sir Tim Berners-Lee’s development of the World Wide Web. As Sir Berners-Lee said:

“Had the technology been proprietary, and in my total control, it would probably not have taken off. You can’t propose that something be a universal space and at the same time keep control of it.”

In many ways, these ideals are retained in today’s environment. Online sharing is at its peak, social media and collaboration fulling leveraging a network that is, for the most part, still free of control by any central source. These are ideals that have developed into the demand for net neutrality and open-access information. However, while these ideals have been largely upheld, there are a few notable caveats that give us a more accurate view of today’s Internet.

As the Internet grew in capability, it also grew in utility… many of which featuring the need for greater security and privacy. With the confidential information that only select users should be accessing growing in popularity within Internet-based communications, this spurred a balance to the Internet that both individuals and businesses can appreciate, and that Google has shaped its offerings around.

From its beginnings as a dissertation project by two Stamford doctorate students, Google has grown into the dominant force online today. Businesses use its G Suite applications every day, as private users leverage some of their other services to their own benefit. Many people, both for business and personal use, leverage Gmail. Let’s face it, Gmail is just useful, whether you use it for work, or just maintain an account to open accounts with other web services.

It is this last point that makes your Google account’s security so important to maintain.

How many of your online accounts are accessible by Google? On the subject, how many of your accounts would be compromised if your Google account was first?

The Impact
This is the double-edged sword of a Google account. On the one hand, it only makes sense to use a Google account to create others, either using your associated Gmail address or linking it directly. The convenience is inarguable, and Google does equip these resources with reasonable security standards. So why not use a Google account?

Unfortunately, there’s one critical consideration that doing so adds into your security equation, that many overlook:

Linking an account to your Google account ties your Google account’s security to it directly.

This means that, if your Google account was to be compromised, all of the accounts you had connected to it are also compromised by association. Depending on what you had saved in this way, that could have some devastating ramifications.

Finding Out How Devastating
If you’re on your desktop right now, you can access your Google account by clicking here. In the Security section, you can review all the devices that your Google account has been active on, all the third-party applications with access to your account, and all the websites that are utilizing Google Smart Lock.

Is this list longer than you would have expected? Does it include your bank?

If it does, all it would take for someone to defraud you would be to access your Google account--or even lock you out of your own bank, resetting your bank credentials by using your Gmail account to activate an account recovery process.

A Solution
Again, this creates a conflict between two priorities: convenience against security. While the convenience could make anything that you use online more efficient in both your professional and personal life, nothing is worth compromising the security of either. So… where do we stand?

Like any conflict between two interests, the ideal place to meet is in the middle. In this case, it is the conclusion that you can have the best of both worlds--you just have to make sure that your Google account is secured properly.

While it would be great if there was, there just isn’t an option somewhere in Google you can select to make everything perfectly secure, just like that. Having said this, it is just a matter of taking a few precautions.

Securing Your Google Account
The first thing to securing any account is to understand that it isn’t a one-time activity and will need to be revisited periodically to make sure that everything remains secure. You should keep an eye out for news stories that discuss breaches among any of the organizations you have an account with, as you will still need to alter your credentials for these accounts.

Once this is set, there are a few best practices that it would be in your best interest to follow.

Passwords and Account Security
While all of your accounts should have the protection of a strong password, the fact that your Google account serves as a repository for your others make it only more crucial to implement one to its authentication measures. To accomplish this, make sure the password or passphrase you select is well in keeping with best practices, and that your Google account is the only account secured with it.

You should also be careful about what you are using to access your account. Any device that is available to the public should be avoided, as they are not only magnets for viruses and other digitally-based cyberthreats, but a cybercriminal could potentially retrieve your credentials from the device you used and thereby gain access to your account. Public Wi-Fi signals can have very similar issues, so use a secured, private connection whenever possible.

Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)
There is also the option to make your Google account ask more of someone trying to access it, a secondary code sent to you in a text message, delivered in the Google Authenticator application, or dictated through a direct call to your mobile device. By enabling 2FA, you can greatly decrease the likelihood that a cybercriminal will have everything they need to get in, assuming they don’t have access to your phone as well. We generally recommend that you utilize Google Authenticator, as it is the most secure of those three options.

You can also use your Google account to access a list of one-time authentication codes that you can print out and keep with you. This way, if you need to access your account and don’t have your phone handy, you can reference these to get in. If you run out of codes or lose the list, you can easily reset them and start over.

To set up these features, log in to your Google account.

At the end of the day, you don’t have to sacrifice the convenience of Google, as long as you have protected it responsibly. Coleman Technologies has the expertise to help you manage this security, as well as the rest of your business’ IT solutions and infrastructure. Call (604) 513-9428 to learn more.

The Development of the PDF
The PDF is best known for promoting the sharing of information as it was created. A PDF looks the same whether it is in digital format or if it is printed to paper, no matter what OS is being used. Before this format was created, sharing information between the two was extremely difficult, but in 1990, Adobe co-founder John Warnock wrote a paper titled A Camelot Project, in which he described the limitations of sharing information. He would go on to found Team Camelot, the group of software developers that created the PDF, a file that can be universally shared across all computing platforms.

At first, however, it held very little utility as users had to purchase Adobe Acrobat in order to use the file type. Team Camelot, however, built additional functionality as the Internet got more popular, and as its utility increased, it was eventually adopted by the International Organization for Standardization and opened up to the masses.

Advantages of the PDF
Nowadays, there are multiple types of PDFs, and their utility is tied to their makeup. The types are as follows:

• Digitally Created PDFs - PDF files created in a digital environment, whatever that environment might be (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Android, etc.). These PDFs are fully customizable and editable.
• Scanned PDFs - A Scanned PDF is effectively an image of a document. They are not inherently customizable, but there is software that can be utilized to change that.
• Searchable PDFs - Thanks to Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software adding an editable text layer to an image layer, a PDF becomes searchable. This process enables greater interaction with PDFs like this. In a document management system, many document scanners come with the kind of software users need to convert a scanned PDF into a searchable PDF. As such, it is a core component of a paperless office.

PDFs have shown to be extraordinarily useful for businesses. They are convenient to use, universally compatible, and can be extremely secure.

For more great technology information, return to our blog regularly.

Scrooge, not missing a beat, and never altering his demanding demeanor, laid the responsibilities that were, up to last month, Jacob’s, at the feet of poor old Bob; with, the expectation that Bob would be able to produce more. Bob was ever the diligent worker, and he never complained, regardless of how much unwanted attention and responsibility was forced onto him. As the holidays approached, Bob was looking forward to the respite from work, even if it was for a day. He was going to spend time with his family. You see, Bob’s daughter Grace fell ill and since Scrooge didn’t believe in offering benefits, the burden of keeping her well fell on Bob’s shoulders.

Just as he did the best that he could for Scrooge, he did the best that he could for his family. The problem was that Christmas is tomorrow and there has been no mention of him getting the day off. At about 1 p.m., after he had eaten the soup his wife had made (the same soup he had been eating for five consecutive working days), he went to Scrooge.

“Mr. Scrooge, I was wondering if I could have the day off tomorrow for Christmas?”

“No, Bob,” Scrooge answered immediately, “We just can’t afford it if you missed any time. It’s not fair or convenient to the business for you to miss any time.”

“But Mr. Scrooge,” Bob pleaded, “My wife is making a roast and I am hosting Christmas.” He went on to observe that it was only one day a year.

“Bah! Humbug.” Scrooge crowed, “It’s a poor excuse for picking a man’s pocket every twenty-fifth of December! You’d better be here in the morning, or you can find yourself another job.”

Bob, not wanting to put his job in jeopardy dejectedly answered, “Yes, sir.”

Bob went back to work and toward the end of the day, Scrooge emerged from his office, put on his coat and meandered over to Bob’s desk with a box. He stopped, placed the box on the desk and placed his hand upon the box.

“Bob,” Scrooge started, “I was thinking about your request for time off, and I wanted to tell you that since Jacob left, we just can’t have anyone missing any more time, so just tell your family to come after you get out of work.” Bob was upset, but said nothing.

“I’m headed to my club, I need you to stay tonight and install this new router.” Scrooge tapped the box, “I’m having trouble streaming in my office and want this installed and working before you leave for the day.”

Without saying goodbye, the old miser walked out the door and shuffled up the street toward his car. Bob felt crestfallen. He knew his brother and his family would be at the house when he got home, but not wanting to disobey Mr. Scrooge’s demands. He stayed until just after 8 p.m. making sure that the router was installed properly and that it did, indeed provide Mr. Scrooge’s office with the wireless signal he demanded.

After he finished with the router, he locked up the office and meandered down the street toward his car. Since Scrooge has kept both parking spots in front of the office for himself, Bob had to walk a half a mile to the parking garage. As he made his way there he went into the store to buy his family their Christmas roast. Knowing he wouldn’t be around to enjoy the company of his loved ones, he could at least get a beautiful roast.

He started pricing the meat and realized that he couldn’t afford a roast that was big enough for eight people. He checked his balance, and when the numbers came up on the screen he felt like he wanted to cry. He picked up a small roast and a large chicken, paid, and left for his home.

When Bob got home, his entire family was there. The sadness he was feeling melted away and the Christmas spirit that had escaped him returned with aplomb. His brother’s family had arrived a few hours before and so, after tucking their children in for Christmas, the adults sat around the Christmas tree telling stories and laughing, stuffing stockings, and putting out gifts. Bob didn’t know exactly how to explain that his boss wouldn’t give him the day off, but waited to reveal this sad truth for after the pleasantries of the evening were finished.

As he got ready for bed he shared the news with his wife.

“That Scrooge is a real piece of work,” his wife proclaimed.

“He’s a real piece of something,” Bob returned.

The couple talked about it a bit more, said goodnight, and went to sleep.

----

Scrooge, was sitting alone, as was his custom at a table in his club’s bar. His scowl was a solid deterrent to keep people away. He sipped his scotch and water and sat there watching the television that was mounted above the bar. The financial news was on. As the stock prices raced by and the attractive, yet muted 30-something gave the audience the recap of the money that had been made and lost during the day’s trading, his concentration was broken.

All of a sudden a man was standing, drinkless, in front of his table. “Hello Mr. Scrooge.”

“What?!” the ill-tempered codger snapped.

“Merry Christmas.” the man said joyfully.

“Bah!” Scrooge responded sharply.

“My name is Darren Coleman, and I’m with Coleman Technologies, and it’s come to my attention that your IT administrator, Jacob, is no longer with your company. I was wondering if you had a few minutes to talk about how my company can help you manage your...”

Scrooge responded, “Let me stop you before you go any further. I wish to be left alone. I don’t know how you know my business and I don’t care, I’ve got it handled.”

The conversation went on like that for a few minutes and Darren Coleman left his card on the table and wished Scrooge a merry Christmas. Scrooge predictably scoffed at the sentiment. In solitude he finished his drink, paid the bill with no tip, and left the club.

When he got home, he locked the door behind him and put on his dressing gown and nightcap. Just as he was getting comfortable in his bed, he heard a tapping, which he ignored. A minute later a banging came from the front room. He got up to investigate, grabbing his cane. Discovering nothing, he returned to his bedroom, only to find Jacob sitting at the small writing desk he had up against the far wall.

“What the hell are you doing here?!” Scrooge said aggressively.

“I’m not here, Mr. Scrooge. I’m not. I am a figment of your imagination.” Jacob stated matter-of-factly.

Scrooge charged at him and swinging his club to accost the intruder only served to break the lamp on the desk.

“How now!” said Scrooge, “What do you want with me?”

“Much” Jacob replied, “but first I have to see that you believe in me.”

“Believe in you?” Scrooge said, “Humbug, I tell you! Humbug!”

Just then Jacob let out a wail that got Scrooge’s attention. He then asked Scrooge to check his account balances, and after a little back-and-forth, Scrooge placated the spectre. The look on Scrooge’s face was of pure terror.

He began to plead, “Mercy, dreadful apparition, why do you trouble me?”

“Your life is tied to your business, Scrooge, but your repulsive avarice has left you exposed; left it exposed.”

Jacob walked up to a terrified Scrooge. “Hear me! Tonight you will be haunted by three spirits.”

“Three spirits?” Scrooge asked, terrified.

“Yes, without their visits you can’t expect to understand the danger your belligerence has caused.”

Just then, the room was silent. Scrooge was horrified. He turned every light on in his house and turned on the television. After at least an hour of trepidation, he finally started to get tired, and even though his home was lit up like a jack-o-lantern on Halloween, he dozed off on his sofa.

----

“Wake Up!” the spirit shrieked.

Scrooge arose from his peace-less slumber quickly and alertly. He took a swipe with his cane, but was rebuked by the large ethereal man standing before him. The ghost was around six-foot-four, but had a golf shirt embroidered with Scrooge’s company’s logo on it tucked into a pair of khakis. Its hair was seemingly an ethereal mist that looked like there was smoke coming up from his glasses. His eyes were ominously white behind thick black glasses.

“Are you the Spirit, sir whose coming was foretold to me?” Scrooge asked.

“I am. I am the Ghost of Christmas Past.”

“Long past?” asked Scrooge who was trembling with fear.

“No, man, your past,” the spirit returned

The spectre put his hand on Scrooge’s reluctant shoulder and led him to the door of his home. Instead of opening the door, they traveled through it only to find on the other side a vision. The vision was of Jacob talking with Bob. They were talking about how Jacob had went to Scrooge, and asked him to consider getting on a firewall installed on the business network.

“You would have thought I asked him to go steady,” Jacob started, “He screamed at me and told me that if I don’t do my #$%^*& job and stop coming to him for money, I won’t have a job to come to.”

“I remember that. He was asking for too much money!” Scrooge said defiantly.

The spirit said nothing and put his hand on Scrooge’s shoulder again. They walked back through the wall they had just come through and this time it was a school. It seemed to be sometime in the 1960s. There was a little boy who was trying to open a padlock with paperclips.

As the lock sprung open, Scrooge growled, “Tommy Hulse!”

The boy opened the locker that was being protected by the padlock and took out a small bag.

“It was him!” Scrooge screeched. He got emotional and explained that he had brought his dad’s watch into school the day before Christmas and he had kept it in the bag. When he returned to the locker that day, it was open and his father’s watch was gone.

“I bet he skinned your hide,” the spirit said arrogantly.

Scrooge, despondent, looked at the spirit, “He died soon thereafter.”

“My time is running short, Scrooge. Let us go,” the spirit said, as he put his hand on his shoulder and walked through the wall.

He was back in the front room of his house. No one else was there. He called out to the spirit but nothing answered. Just then there was a banging coming from the bedroom. He went to investigate and there was a larger spectre standing in front of his bed.

“Scrooge!” the new ghost bellowed. Scrooge turned around and shut the door, only to turn around to see the giant ghastly man. This spirit was nearly seven-feet tall, his head was covered in a hood. He couldn’t make out any of his features, except two glowing eyes that seemed to puncture a hole through him.

“Scrooge! I am the Ghost of Christmas Present.”

“No! No more hauntings!” Scrooge plead. The ghost lifted his right arm and snapped his ethereal fingers. The snap was the loudest noise the miser had ever heard.

Scrooge, who had closed his eyes to avert his gaze from the newest spirit, opened them and found himself alone in a dark room.

‘Where am I?” Scrooge called out. No answer.

He noticed a light coming from an adjacent room. He made his way toward it. As he entered the doorway he could see the ghost standing over what looked to be Jacob, his former IT administrator. Jacob was typing at a computer.

‘Come, Scrooge,” the spirit said in his baritone tenor.

Scrooge walked over and looked on the screen. It was indeed Jacob, he was typing in a chat on his computer. He began to read:

When I bailed on old man Scrooge, I left a hole in the network. Tomorrow, I am going to go in and put this ransomware I just purchased. When he gets back from his Christmas break, he’ll have a surprise waiting for him.

“What is this? What is ransomware?” Scrooge asked the spirit timidly.

“I can’t tell you that, but I can tell you that it is not good for you or your company.” The ghost replied.

“Tell him to stop! Tell him to stop!” Scrooge began pleading.

“No one can hear you, Scrooge.” The spirit said as it walked out of the room.

Scrooge followed, but as soon as he got into the next room, there was no one there. He turned around and seemed surprised to be in his office. He walked through his office door to see the spirit standing over Bob’s desk. Bob was sitting at his desk working away, gently sighing every once in a while and checking his phone repeatedly. All of a sudden his desk phone rang.

“Hello.” Bob answered.

“Merry Christmas to you too...Mr. Scrooge needed me to work today, so I am...Well I have my brother and his family...She’s doing well...It’s okay...I’ll think about it...Have a merry Christmas.” Bob hung up the phone and went back to doing what he was doing.

“He’s a good worker.” Scrooge admitted to the spirit.

“You just couldn’t give him the day off for Christmas?” the spirit asked directly.

“I…I...We’re so short-staffed as it is…” Scrooge stammered. Bob’s cell phone rang.

“Hey...What?!...I’ll be right there,” Bob stood up with a panicked look on his face. He put his coat on and walked out the door without turning his computer off.

“Where is he going? Where is he going, spirit?” Scrooge plead.

The spirit again snapped his fingers and the pair were standing in the waiting room of a hospital. Bob was standing at the desk filling out paperwork. A doctor came up to him and started to talk. Bob’s face succumbed to the pain of the situation.

Scrooge started in, “What is it? What has happened? Tell me what has happened, please?”

The ghost looked at Scrooge with his searing red eyes and said, “His little girl is ill, Scrooge. I’m sure you knew that.”

“Yes...Yes, but what has happened to her?”

The spirit lifted his arm again. SNAP.

The pair were on the front lawn of Bob’s house. A car pulls into the driveway. Bob’s wife got out of the passenger seat. She had clearly been crying. Bob got out of the front seat and made his way around the car. His wife muttered something to him while he opened the back door of the car. Bob lifted his tired and weak daughter out of the car seat and followed his wife in the house.

“Not very Christmasy,” the tall spirit said, mocking a relieved Scrooge.

Before Scrooge could say anything else there was a huge bang and he was back in his home. Feeling tired and emotional, Scrooge sat down on the settee in his front room. He sat there in contemplation for a few minutes. He was worried about the virus that Jacob was going to unleash, he was worried about his business, and about Bob and his family. He realized that he hadn’t treated these people with a lot of respect. Just as he was coming to the conclusion that he had to do something about it the room filled with a blinding light.

Scrooge couldn’t see a thing. All of a sudden there was a high-pitched scream that startled him further. He started to plead:

“Please spirits, no more! I have learned the errors of my ways! No more, I beg you!”

A silhouette emerged in the light.

“Come,” it screeched.

Witless and afraid, Scrooge complied. The spirit was no more than a shadow that moved independently through the ether like bolts of lightning.

Scrooge followed the spirit into the light and emerged in front of a Best Buy. There were giant “Christmas Sale” banners hanging from above the revolving doors. Scrooge walked into the store where he was confronted by himself. He was wearing a Best Buy shirt and tan slacks, staring aimlessly across the vast expanse of the retail establishment.

From the side he spotted Bob walking up to his likeness.

“C’mon Scrooge, get to work,” Bob said as he walked by future Scrooge. He was older than he was by a few years and looked malnourished and feeble.

“No! This can’t be! I am an old man. I cannot work retail!”

As future Scrooge made his way toward the warehouse modern Scrooge followed. Two younger workers were standing near the loading dock as the Scrooges approached.

“What’s the matter, Grandpa? Don’t remember where you should be?” one of the young men said as the other laughed.

Scrooge looked around helplessly as the two younger men continued to snicker and jest.

Just then the light returned, covering everything. It brought Scrooge to a grave marked “Here Lies Scrooge”. Sensing his mortality Scrooge began to wail:

“Stop! Spirit, no! Oh no! Your nature intercedes for me, and pities me. Assure me that I yet may change these shadows you have shown me, shadow! I will live an altered life!”

The light returned and Scrooge woke up. He wasn’t on the settee or in the front room, but his bed. He leaped from the sheets.

“I don’t know what to do! I am light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a schoolboy, I am as merry as a drunken man. Merry Christmas to everybody!” Scrooge cried laughing aloud. Without getting dressed he grabbed his coat and rushed out onto the street. Dawn was just breaking. He saw a young man walking on the sidewalk, he stopped him and asked, “What’s to-day?”

“Why today is Christmas, sir!” the young man replied.

“It’s Christmas day? Of course. Merry Christmas to you my fine fellow.” Scrooge said with enthusiasm.

“A merry Christmas to you, too, sir,” the man replied and walked on.

Scrooge, went back in his home and started making calls, the first call he made was to Bob, telling him to take the day and spend it with his family; and, that he was going to get a significant raise. The next call was to Jacob, who didn’t answer, but Scrooge left a voicemail that said he was sorry and would like to make it up to him. Finally, he called Coleman Technologies’s Darren Coleman to tell him that he would be happy to learn more about how he could keep his IT safe and make his business more efficient.

From all of us at Coleman Technologies, we’d like to wish you a very merry Christmas and the happiest of holidays!

The Basics: Viruses and Malware
Your computer depends on software to run, whether it’s the operating system or the software solutions on the device itself. Viruses are created to make changes to this code, and the results can vary in scope and scale. They can go from being minor annoyances to major time wasters. Malware is a bit more dangerous in scope. It stands for “malicious software,” and its intentions are right in the name. Hackers develop malware for various purposes, but for the most part, it’s with the intention of stealing, altering, or destroying data, depending on what nefarious plot the hacker is using it for.

The More Dangerous: Ransomware and Spyware
There are other more specialized types of malware that are designed for specific purposes. Ransomware, for instance, is designed to extort money from unsuspecting victims. It encrypts files located on the infected device, only decrypting them when a ransom has been paid to the hacker responsible. These kinds of threats are quite popular with hackers as they can be used to target a considerable number of victims in a short amount of time. Spyware is also a popular threat that allows hackers to steal information in a covert manner through various means, including backdoor infiltrations, keyloggers, and so much more. This is particularly dangerous to your business’ intellectual property.

The Vehicle: Spam and Phishing Attacks
Cybersecurity threats are the most dangerous when they can be concealed. After all, you never hear in the news about how a brute-force attack exposed millions of health records or passwords to the world. No, the most devastating data breaches are typically those that occur over an extended period of time, shielded from the eyes of security professionals and network administrators. Spam and phishing attacks that deceive users into clicking on links or downloading suspicious files play a key role in allowing threats into a network. It’s more important than ever before to be cautious while online, as there is no telling who might try to trick you into exposing your network to threats.

Protect Your Business with Proactive Tools and Best Practices
Thankfully, while it’s easier for threats to make their way through your defenses, the defenses put into place by businesses are much more substantial than in previous years. A Unified Threat Management (UTM) solution is easily the most comprehensive security tool on the market today, combining well-known methods of cybersecurity into an easy and accessible package. This includes a firewall, antivirus, spam blocker, and content filter to minimize the chances of threats manifesting on your network in the first place, as well as solutions to mitigate threats that do make it through your defenses. This can be further augmented through industry best practices that dictate how and when to share data.

To learn more about how your organization can take advantage of security solutions, reach out to us at (604) 513-9428.

What Apps?
First, we’ll start with a complete list of the apps that had been infested with this nefarious code:

• Sparkle FlashLight
• Snake Attack
• Math Solver
• ShapeSorter
• Tak A Trip
• Magnifeye
• Join Up
• Zombie Killer
• Space Rocket
• Neon Pong
• Just Flashlight
• Table Soccer
• Cliff Diver
• Box Stack
• Jelly Slice
• AK Blackjack
• Color Tiles
• Animal Match
• Roulette Mania
• HexaFall
• HexaBlocks
• PairZap

What Did These Apps Do?
SophosLabs found a cache of apps that feature what they call “Andr/Clickr-ad” malware. These applications are engineered with maximum flexibility in mind. They could contact a common attacker-controller server to download what is called an ad-fraud module. It does this every 80 seconds. The malware simply opened a non-visible window and would repeatedly click on ads, making the network look like it was getting more traffic, fraudulently enhancing the developers’ revenue.

No specific ad network was specified by Sophos, but users who had downloaded these applications would see a decrease in the battery life and/or an increase in the amount of data their device would use. One strange part of this is that some of the ad traffic was able to identify itself as from coming from iPhones, despite this appearing on Android-only apps. They came from “Apple models ranging from iPhone 5 to 8 Plus and from 249 different forged models from 33 distinct brands of Android phones.” This ploy was used as a way to increase revenues further as some advertisers will pay a premium to get their ads onto Apple devices. iOS versions of the apps, largely by the same developers, didn’t have the malicious code integrated.

Download Legit Apps
How can you go about making sure that you aren’t part of this problem? Download legitimate applications. Some of the best ways to make sure the apps you are downloading are legit, include:

• Read a lot of reviews - Much of the information you will need to see the legitimacy of an application can be found in the review of the app in the store. If you make a point to read eight or more reviews, you will quickly get a good idea about how functional the application is.
• Check app permissions - Applications need permission from a user to use the core functions of the phone. If the application in question tends to need access to functions that it shouldn’t, you should be skeptical about the application.
• Check the terms and conditions - Most people don’t go through the terms and conditions of anything, let alone an application for their smartphone. Even if you do make a point to read them, the amount of legalese found is akin to a lullaby or a warm glass of milk. The problem for users is that there is a lot of good information about the applications, and specifically how it uses data. If you do set aside some time to read about it, check out some language that is relevant to the way you use the application.
• Research the developer - Nowadays, software development is filled with people that are looking to make a name for themselves. This type of ambition can lead to bad decision making. If you take some time to do some basic research about the developer of an app you have reason to question, you’ll likely find the truth of whether they can be trusted or not. If they want to be known, they likely promote their work via social media, so, start there.

Android has millions of legitimate applications on the Google Play Store, so worrying whether or not you’ve downloaded one that will put your data at risk shouldn’t be too worrisome as long as you stick to our best practices. To learn more about technology, security, and mobile strategies, call Coleman Technologies today at (604) 513-9428.

Of course, it’s not entirely the fault of the user, even if they do represent part of the blame for this. Internet of Things devices are well-known security threats, but it’s largely because of the way they are designed and developed. Even if the user was aware of the security issues presented by these devices, the truth is that there isn’t anything they can do about it barring just not using them outright.

This is due to the fact that the security issues found in Internet of Things devices are built into them, particularly because the developers of the devices don’t build them with security in mind. If you think about it in terms of what they are used to building--devices that don’t have any kind of connectivity--it all begins to make sense. A manufacturer who produces a smart blender isn’t a software engineer or a security professional. Up until that point, they just made blenders, so they had no need for software development or security. Unfortunately, this creates a device that is made with functionality in mind over security, much to the detriment of businesses.

These devices are most vulnerable to threats that could be patched, if only the Internet of Things devices were easily patched by the developer and the user. This isn’t currently the case. It’s practically impossible to distribute patches to all Internet of Things devices manually, so if the developer hasn’t enabled automatic updates, you can forget about the user actually doing it, unless it gets in the way of the core functionality of the device. While this responsibility would fall on the developer, some have also suggested the implementation of unique default passwords, as users often see no need to change the default password on their new device before putting it to work.

To counteract these threats, businesses have to implement measures to keep their networks safe from the wave of additional devices entering the office. Whether you’re aware of it or not, it’s likely that employees are bringing new devices to work every day, whether it’s a tablet or a smart watch. A Bring Your Own Device policy with clear-cut rules on what’s allowed and what’s not will go a long way toward keeping unwanted devices in the workplace, and it can help to provide a general outline for how these devices should be used in the office as well. Remember, it’s about the future of your business, not about inconveniencing anyone.

If your business could use a hand with implementing a BYOD policy, Coleman Technologies can help. To learn more, reach out to us at (604) 513-9428.

The Stakes Are High
A lost smartphone is something that needs to be taken seriously nowadays. Not only is it an expensive device to replace, its contents could be considered priceless. Anything you’ve accessed via that phone (potentially including your finances and social media) is then at risk. If this device was used for business purposes, your data could be at stake if your device was stolen - and, if you used it as a part of a two-factor authentication measure, there goes your access to your network.

Clearly, this wouldn’t be a good thing.

This is precisely why Android includes a feature to help you find a device, should it ever be lost.

Auto-Location
On your Android device, you need to work proactively and enable a few settings.

In your Settings, you should be able to find a Find My Device option. Make sure this is turned on. Your Location should be set to High accuracy. Finally, you will want to enable Google to Use Location History. While this will diminish your privacy from the eyes of Google, it will make your phone that much easier to find.

To locate your device, you’ll then need to access the same Google account that is used on the device in question from a web browser. Google is able to give you a general idea of where the device was last located on a map, and even what Wi-Fi networks it is connected to. The Find My Device application can do the same thing if you have access to a second device.

Find My Device also allows you to remotely lock your device and display a message to help anyone who might find it get it back to you. Once you’re in the vicinity of your device, you can also command your device to ring. This command will override the volume settings, increasing the chances of it being heard.

If you truly believe that your device has been stolen, there is also the nuclear option: remotely wiping the device via Find My Device.

Keep in mind, in order for these features to work, you absolutely have to enable them on your phone first. Otherwise, you’ll be out of luck if the device ever goes missing.

Act Fast
It is also important to remember that these features will only work as long as the phone is on. Sure, you could still check for its last known location in Find My Device, but there’s no guarantee that it will still be there.

Finally, if you truly believe that your device was stolen, contact the proper authorities and give them everything you know.

With any luck, you’ll be able to find your lost phone lickety-split. While you’re here, take a look at some of our other blogs, where you can find other handy tricks and useful information, courtesy of Coleman Technologies.

The Good
Let’s start with the resoundingly positive attributes of the Internet. Firstly, it makes life extraordinarily easier. Banking, shopping, and direct communication with other individuals and businesses are all simpler and faster. People can get more done in a shorter amount of time. It makes people smarter by providing them access to a knowledge base unprecedented in human history. It provides the opportunity to connect with like-minded people from anywhere in the world at minimal cost, giving people the ability to do wonderful things for others whom they may have never met. It provides businesses and individuals, alike, the access to better opportunities, more knowledge, and interactions with people that matter to them.

Speaking of business, it has changed things for entrepreneurs precipitously. Data storage and retrieval is faster. Cloud platforms of all types offer software, hardware, security, and development platforms that reduces the enormous capital costs many organizations were spending on their IT. It gives organizations access to a glut of resources, no more important than a growing mobile workforce that is available around the clock, promoting better productivity. It provides the opportunity to streamline all types of work, whether it be reducing face-to-face interactions with your vendors, or utilizing tracking software that helps administrators build more efficient business practices.

The Internet has provided a social outlet to people who didn’t have one. The use of social media has revolutionized the way people share and communicate. Each person has the freedom to do whatever they choose online, and often this results in positive action. Many important groups that have been marginalized for one reason or another are now able to promote their platforms thoroughly.

The Bad
There are some things about the Internet that many people can give or take. In fact, for every benefit listed above, there is a drawback. The easier access to information opens the door for more misinformation. For all the ease of banking, shopping, and communication there are threat actors looking to steal resources and personal information for profit. For every like-minded person that you meet, you meet all manners of Internet trolls and other unattractive people.

Social media has had an amazing amount of influence, but for all the good that it does, it also promotes individual freedom from convention, sure, but also creates what is known as a “toxic mirror” effect. This is the concept of making people feel bad about themselves by constantly being exposed to information that would make them create negative opinions about themselves. The toxic mirror makes anything that isn’t physical, emotional, and mental perfection, ugly and bad.

Beyond the toxic mirror, many people use social media in ways that hurt the people around them. The manifestation of a social persona can often present the opportunity for a user to put out very public misinformation. This break from reality, further muddies people’s ability to properly identify risk, putting them in harmful situations. The Internet is filled with trolls, stalkers, and bullies. These groups are allowed to run rampant, as people don’t have a lot of resources to ward against them. These individuals hide behind their Internet persona, making civil action against them extremely difficult. Cyberbullying, specifically, can cause great harm to people of all ages.

For the business, the Internet is a true double-edged sword. On one hand if you don’t utilize its features, you could be hindering the manner in which you conduct business, since more people are exposed to your business on the Internet than in any other place. A problem with this is that you then have to spend a lot of advertising capital to try and get your business exposed to potential customers. For some businesses this may be advantageous, but for the lion’s share of businesses, it increases the capital that is required without any assurance that it will provide additional sales.

The Ugly
The Internet is actually a pretty dangerous place; and, it’s a lot bigger than people think. While the usable part of the Internet is catalogued by most of the major search engines, there is a massive part of the Internet that is filled to the brim with risky behaviors. The deep web, and more specifically, the dark web, is filled with problematic content. While users can’t just access this part of the Internet, the people that do are often the hackers and dissidents of the world. Some are evil, some just unfortunate, but most of the dark web is filled with a black market that makes available goods and services that the average person has no use for. Murder for hire? Check. Drug catalogues? Check. Hacking resources? Check. It’s essentially an anti-social person’s playground filled with hate, and illegal material. Think of the dark web as a city. It just so happens that some places in that city (like many other cities) are very dangerous, and while you may just find something you can’t find anywhere else, staying far away is a good way to avoid the negatives altogether.

For the business, the ugliest part of the Internet are the countless hacking collectives and individual hackers that are almost constantly trying to gain access to their network. Computer viruses and other malware, including ransomware are such a big threat that businesses spend billions and billions of dollars a year trying to protect themselves and their clients from people looking to steal their data and sell it off.

The Internet is a lot of good to a lot of people, but as more derision, more hate, more criminal behavior, and more strategic subversion happen on the Internet, the more it becomes something it was never intended to be. The saving grace is the hundreds of millions of users that still use the Internet to make their lives, and the lives of people around them, better.

The IT professionals at Coleman Technologies are serious about making others’ lives better. If your business wants to utilize the good and secure itself against the bad and the ugly, contact us today at (604) 513-9428. We can help your organization protect your data and scan the dark web to see if any of your accounts (or your employees’ accounts) were already stolen and leaked on the dark web.

Wish One: Security Awareness
Some IT professionals feel like their job never ends, particularly in the realm of cybersecurity. They might feel that training employees to be aware of their actions is an uphill battle that just never stops. Increasing awareness of security is one of the key roles that an IT department plays for your organization, and if you can make their lives easier by shifting any of this responsibility from them, they’ll greatly thank you for it.

Wish Two: More of the Cloud
The cloud is a great way for organizations to get more out of their technology as it allows them to access services that might be exceptionally time-consuming to manage in-house. Saving this time is something that your IT department would relish, as they likely have their hands full with their current responsibilities. The cloud alleviates many of these pains, as it improves operations by enabling your business’ employees to access solutions on any device they want. The cloud gives your organization the opportunity to eliminate waste and deliver assets in a much more convenient and accessible way.

Wish Three: Improved Working Relationships
IT often has to deal with much more than just keeping your business running; it also involves communicating with other workers in your office. To put it in simple terms, the IT department is going to be on the receiving end of all your employees’ frustrations. You can give your IT the gift of a policy in which they must hear IT out. This gives them the ability to learn a little bit about the process, and it could potentially save several contacts with the IT department, meaning more time for them to spend on other initiatives. An outside perspective is helpful for helping people understand each other.

Does your business need the gift of managed IT? Coleman Technologies can help. To learn more, reach out to us at (604) 513-9428.

Many of the largest-growing smartphone manufacturers set their eyes on untapped markets in Africa, the Middle East, and southeast Asia. Regardless, the smartphone market has now showed negative growth for four consecutive fiscal quarters and the manufacturers are feeling the heat. The new flagships show off how the world’s most successful smartphone manufactures plan on altering their market’s forces. The new flagships include:

Apple iPhone XS Max
The world’s most profitable company’s newest flagship smartphone looks a lot like last year’s, but there are some major upgrades made to this year’s version that you may not be able to miss out on. The iPhone XS Max features Apple’s new A12 Bionic chip that improves device performance by 15 percent and a vastly-improved neural engine that accelerates machine learning on the device.

The newest iPhone has a 6.5-inch edge-to-edge display built on an aluminum chassis. The back of the device is all glass and comes with two separate 12-megapixel (MP) cameras. There is a single 7 MP camera on the front. The iPhone XS Max’s Battery is a 3,174 mAh that has an endurance rating at 78 hours. With a hefty price tag of $1099.99, consumers are paying a premium price for a premium device. It is available on all major carriers in Pace Gray, Silver, and Gold.

Specifications
Build - Stainless Steel with Glass Front/Back
Display - 6.5” Super AMOLED with ~458 ppi
Chipset - Apple A12 Bionic
Memory - 4GB RAM
Storage - 64/256/512 GB
Software - iOS 12/iOS 12.1
Cameras - 12 MP (26mm); 12 MP (52mm) with 2x optical zoom and optical image stabilization; 7 MP front-facing
Battery - 3,174 mAh (78 hours)
Additional Features - Face ID

LG V40 ThinQ
The newest LG flagship, the V40 ThinQ builds on what was LG’s best-reviewed smartphone to date: the LG V30. The V40 ThinQ offers users a 6.4-inch display that is inline with the other devices on this list. Their OLED display sets the standard for any LG-manufactured device and the build quality, a problem LG has had over the years, is premium.

One of the major upgrades of the LG V40 ThinQ is its camera setup. The device comes with two 12-megapixel cameras (one wide angle and one telephoto), as well as a 16 MP ultra-wide-angle lens. The camera app features a ‘triple-preview” that does exactly that: provides an active look through all three lenses so the user can choose which one works best. At $900, it is at least a hundred dollars cheaper than the Samsung or Apple flagship. It is available on all major carriers and can be had in New Platinum Gray, Carmine Red, New Aurora Black, and New Moroccan Blue.

Specifications
Build - Aluminum with Glass Front/Back
Display - 6.4” P-OLED with ~537 ppi
Chipset - Qualcomm Snapdragon 845
Memory - 6 GB RAM
Storage - 64/128GB, microSD up to 512GB
Software - Android 8.1 Oreo
Cameras - 12 MP (27mm) optical image stabilization; 12 MP (52mm) with 2x optical zoom and optical image stabilization; 16 MP (16mm); 8 MP (26mm) and 5 MP (21mm) front-facing.
Battery - 3,300 mAh (64 hours)
Additional Features - Rear-mounted fingerprint scanner

Samsung Galaxy Note 9
Samsung has been making upper-crust mobile devices for much of the past decade, and the Galaxy Note 9 is no different. The Note 9 is made from aluminum and a whole lot of glass, Gorilla Glass 5 to be specific. On board it has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 and up to eight gigs of RAM and 512GB of storage space. There are many Ultrabooks that don’t have those specs.

Running on Android 8.1 Oreo, the Note 9 features two 12 MP camera lenses and an 8 MP front-facing camera. With a 4,000 mAh battery, the Note 9 seems to outpace the rest of this year’s devices in battery life and sustainability. With available colors including Metallic Copper, Lavender Purple, Midnight Black, Ocean Blue and Pure White; and, availability on all major carriers, the Note 9 can be found for $1000.

Specifications
Build - Aluminum with Glass Front/Back
Display - 6.4” Super AMOLED with ~516 ppi
Chipset - Qualcomm Snapdragon 845
Memory - 6 or 8 GB of RAM
Storage - 128 or 512 GB of onboard storage and microSD up to 512 GB
Software - Android 8.1 Oreo
Cameras - 12 MP (26mm); 12 MP (52mm) with 2x optical zoom; optical image stabilization; 8 MP front-facing
Battery - 4,000 mAh (97 hours)
Additional Features - Samsung S Pen, rear-mounted fingerprint scanner, iris scanner.

Huawei Mate 20 Pro
Huawei isn’t the type of manufacturer that is typically on a list like this. This is because the company has run into hot water with some in the west who believe that the stake that the Chinese government has in the company is a security threat to users. Whether you believe that or not, Huawei sure has made an impressive phone with the Mate 20 Pro.

Created with a Kirin 980 octa-core processor that comes in at seven nanometers, Huawei has built the Mate 20 Pro with a 6.4-inch AMOLED display, 6/8 GB of RAM and 128/256 GB of storage space. The 4,200 battery provides some of the strongest high-usage results of any manufacturer, but like the LG V40 ThinkQ, it comes with three rear-facing cameras. One is a powerful 40 MP fixed wide-angle lens, another is a 20 MP ultra-wide-angle lens, and the other is an eight MP telephoto lens with a 5x optical zoom. It’s also the first device from a major manufacturer to have an in-display fingerprint reader. It may be difficult to find in the U.S., but for those who can, it comes in Emerald Green, Midnight Blue, Twilight, Pink Gold, and Black, and can be had for a hefty lot of $1,100.

Specifications
Build - Aluminum frame with Glass Front/Back
Display - 6.4” AMOLED with ~538 ppi
Chipset - HiSilicon Kirin 980
Memory - 6/8GB RAM
Storage - 128/256GB with Nano Memory slot up to 256GB
Software - Android 9.0 Pie, Huawei UI
Cameras - 40 MP (27mm); 20 MP (16mm); 8 MP (80mm) with 5x optical zoom and optical image stabilization. Front facing 24 MP.
Battery - 4,200 mAh (85 hours)
Additional Features - Face ID, In-display fingerprint scanner, Qi wireless charging broadcasting, 40-Watt fast charging

Google Pixel 3 XL
The Pixel 3 XL has a crystal clear, OLED display that comes in at 6.3-inches. Currently, the Pixel 3 XL runs Android’s newest OS, 9.0 Pie. The Pixel 3 XL picks up where the Pixel 2 XL left off in terms of camera functionality. Largely lauded as the best camera on any smartphone, the Pixel 3 XL is great for content creators and consumers, alike.

The Pixel 3 XL is available in White, Black, and Not Pink; and has a few neat features that aren’t found on many other phones. With a price tag that is at least $100 less than its direct competitors it will be a popular choice for the next year.

Specifications
Build - Aluminum with Glass Front/Back
Display - 6.3” P-OLED with ~523 ppi
Chipset - Qualcomm Snapdragon 845
Memory - 4GB RAM
Storage - 64/128GB
Software - Android 9.0 Pie
Cameras - 12.2 MP (28mm) with optical image stabilization
Battery - 3,430 mAh (69 hours)
Additional Features - Rear-mounted fingerprint scanner, squeeze to call Google Assistant, Call screen feature, Flip to quiet notifications

Smartphones continue to be a major part of people’s lives. As long as that continues, expect manufacturers to keep improving their best devices every year. What smartphone do you use? Would you consider getting one of these flagship devices? Leave your thoughts in the comments.