June 2017

630.850.9039 Back in 2014, Code Spaces was murdered. The company offered tools for source code management, but they didn’t have solid control over sensiƟve informaƟon — including their backups. One cyberaƩack later, and Code Spaces was out of business. Their killer had used some standard techniques, but the most effecƟve was geƫng an unwiƫng Code Space employee to help — likely via a phishing aƩack. When it comes to cybercrime that targets businesses, employees are the largest risks. Sure, your IT guys and gals are trained to recognize phishing aƩempts, funky websites, and other things that just don’t seem right. But can you say the same thing about the people in recepƟon, or the folks over in sales? Sure, those employees might know that clicking on links or opening aƩachments in strange emails can cause issues. But things have become preƩy sophisƟcated; cybercriminals can make it look like someone in your office is sending the email, even if the content looks funny. It only takes a click to compromise the system. It also only takes a click to Google a funny‐looking link or ask IT about a weird download you don’t recognize. Just as you can’t trust people to be email‐savvy, you also can’t trust them to come up with good passwords. It may sound so 2002, but plenty of people sƟll use We love this stuff! Our passion is helping businesses use technology to run their organization successfully and profitably. Your Image Here What’s New This monthly publication provided courtesy of Catherine Wendt, President of Syscon Inc. June 2017 The first official day of Summer is June 20th, but most of us kick it off over the Memorial Day weekend. Thank you to our many veterans for their service! A couple of new names and faces at our office. We’d like to welcome Joanna Proszek to our bookkeeping department. Chris J has been accepted to a Programming boot camp program and we wish him much success; we’d like to welcome Mike Dowell as our IT Coordinator. We love taking care of your IT so you can take care of your business! - Catherine Wendt Continued pg.2 How To Keep Your Employees From Leaking Confidential Information -- 1 of 4 - All Things Tech June 2017 Larry Winget—an ‘Irritational’ Speaker (continued from page 1) birthdays, pet names, or even “password” as their passcodes — or they meet the bare‐ minimum standards for re‐ quired passcode complexity. Randomly generated passcodes are always beƩer, and requiring mulƟple levels of authenƟcaƟon for secure data access is a must‐ do. Remember, that’s just for the office. Once employees start working outside of your network, even more issues crop up. It’s not always possible to keep them from working from home, or from a coffee shop on the road. But it is possible to invest in security tools, like email en‐ crypƟon, that keep data more secure if they have to work outside your network. And if people are working remotely, remind them that walking away from the computer is a no‐no. Anybody could lean over and see what they’re working on, download mal‐ ware or spyware, or even swipe the enƟre device and walk out — all of which are cy‐ bersecurity disasters. Last but not least, you need to consider the possibility of a deliberate secu‐ rity compro‐ mise. Whether they’re seƫng themselves up for a future job or seƫng you up for a vengeful fall, this com‐ mon occurrence is hard to pre‐ vent. It’s possible that Code Space’s demise was the result of malice, so let it be a warning to you as well! Whenever an employee leaves the company for any reason, remove their accounts and access to your data. And make it clear to em‐ ployees that this behavior is considered stealing, or worse, and will be treated as such in criminal and civil court. Keep an eye on your data and on your employees. Foster an open communicaƟon that al‐ lows you to spot potenƟal — or developing — compromises as soon as possible. Cathy and Larry Sightings Catherine hosted a Union Rate Change webinar covering the options and steps to avoid mistakes that cost thousands of dollars to our clients. Larry spent time in Calistoga with his Aunt, 90 years old. She struggled through WWII and came back to America to get her family back to the US! Amazing! FEAR False Experiences Appearing Real 630.850.9039 “Employees are the largest risk.” At a recent event Nashville, I had the chance to hear Larry Winget. Although he’s officially an Inspirational Speaker, he knows he’s closer to an ‘Irritational’ Speaker, and makes no apologies. He shared two stories that directly relate to Customer Service. One involves a hotel and a cookie incident. There’s a YouTube video where he tells the story very well! Ten years later, he’s still irritated about the event, which just emphasizes how important Customer Service really is, and how difficult it is to overcome a ‘bad’ experience. Do a Google search for the ‘Cookie Story’ by Larry Winget and you’ll enjoy this short entertaining video. We had a staff meeting to watch it! From his book ‘It’s Called Work for a Reason!’ there’s another story about the Sonic chain and a Pepsi promotion. This is the other side of the Customer Service experience and well worth the price of the book—Enjoy! -- 2 of 4 - Shiny New Gadget Of The Month: The animal kingdom is a reliable place to turn for mechanical inspiraƟon. The German automaƟon company Festo just made a roboƟc arm that takes its cue from an octopus. Meet the OctoGripper! Festo figured it’s hard to beat the octopus’ flexibility. Built with a soŌ silicone structure that can be pneumaƟcally controlled, the device bends inward to grip an item with two rows of sucƟon cups. These create a vacuum, allowing the gripper to hold onto objects Ɵghtly while moving quickly ‐ a common challenge in roboƟcs. This isn’t the only thing Festo is taking from nature. They want to see the OctoGripper incorporated into their BionicMoƟon Robot, which is inspired by an elephant’s trunk. These could work side by side with humans, perhaps speeding up work. Or they could pair up with Boston Dynamics and start the best roboƟc zoo this side of “Horizon: Zero Dawn.” News From Our Techs Security You Can Control Did you know that business-class firewalls allow country blocks? We’ve seen a HUGE increase in hacking attempts from other countries, always a concern, but a big increase. Blocking specific countries through a firewall is a great way to severely limit hacking attempts. Do you share USB drives with friends, family, co-workers, your accountant? These can be encrypted by Ransomware and you just plugged it into your computer and exposed your network! To protect against this, remove the drive letter for the USB drive and make it accessible by an Admin user account only. Bring Your Own Device (BYOD): a Culture Trend There’s a growing trend that has some great benefits for the employer and the employee - everyone uses their own personal device at work. This is less expensive for the company and cuts down on tracking equipment; employees get to pick equipment based on their own preferences and personal desires. Before you jump on board, the Syscon Techs have a few things for you to consider:  Any device that connects to the network is an ‘endpoint’ and can be a threat to network safety and security.  Does the device have anti-virus software? Who will make sure it’s installed and up-to-date? Who pays for it?  There may be additional costs to support such a variety of equipment. Lack of uniformity requires more time, skill, and usually results in extra support time. Something as simple as an email signature may look different on an Android than an iPhone.  If an employee needs support on their personal device, does the company pay for support such as equipment upgrades, user learning curves, and setting changes?  Your Company data is on that device! Users are not in the habit of locking these; they can be lost or stolen; they may accidentally forward company information to outsiders; what if they leave the company, what happens to your data? BYOD is a great alternative, but it’s important to think through how your staff uses this equipment, what kind of company data is at risk, and what policies you can put in place and enforce. Food for thought... All Things Tech June 2017 630.850.9039 OctoGripper, the Octopus-Inspired Robotic Arm Is Here Which Backup Solution you choose DOES Matter We started working with an out-ofstate client and they said they’ve paid the ransom twice so far. Another recent client had a good backup, but it took 3 weeks to r estor e their data from the cloud. Add it up—if your office had to be down for just one full day, how many man-hours would it cost you, fully burdened, with no work done, then catchup time? What if it was a payroll day and everything was late? Not every solution is appropriate, and cheaper is not necessarily better. Think it’s a pitch? Turn on the news, then give us a call to look at options! -- 3 of 4 - All Things Tech June 2017 Construction Corner Our first version 20 Horror Story! Here’s what happened: Their Tech decided to install the Sage 100 Contractor upgrade just like all the prior upgrades, but all of you know version 20 doesn’t work that way. During the installation, the server didn’t have the necessary requirements, so the installation failed, shutting down the network. No problem, they’ll make the changes to the server (while the staff is waiting to get back to work), then restore from backup and try again. BUT, their backup solution required that the entire directory had to be restored, then they could go get the one file they needed. With everyone stopped, waiting for the directory to download, they started on the PC’s only to find some of them didn’t meet requirements, and one of them belonged to the Controller who could not work until the machine was replaced; another delay. Don’t let this happen to you— plan ahead! We have resources on our website—newsletter articles, short videos, detailed technical webinar recordings— and, we’re booking half-hour planning calls! Chase Bank—Really? We’ve had accounts with Chase over the years and actually like working with them, but I was really surprised by the latest ‘sell’ to a client of ours. ‘Pay everything on a Chase credit card’ and you’ll only have one transaction (reduce fees), one entry to make, better cash flow. Really? The accounting entry will be a nightmare to track by vendor. Every vendor you force to pay with a credit card will increase their prices or charge you the fee. The only one winning in this game is Chase—more credit card fees from all my vendors! Don’t take the bait on this one! - CMW Other Stuff Where Have Tablet Sales Gone? Remember when they said tablets would outsell desktop and laptop computers? That now seems a tad optimistic. In March, Techcrunch.com reported that tablet sales are going down. But why? It turns out that folks treat tablets like computers. meaning they don’t upgrade them nearly as often as smartphones. “The iPad 2 is still in use today,” IDC Senior Analyst Jitesh Ubrani tells TechCrunch. “The [original] iPad Minis and Air are all still in use today. They were being supported by Apple until very recently. People have been hanging onto these devices and they’re finding that they work just as well as they did when they were released.” That’s bad news for the tablet giants, who are still releasing new versions of tablets at least once a year. In the future, don’t expect big releases or online unveilings for slates. Techcrunch.com March 21, 2017 630.850.9039 This month’s trivia question: Which technology, which changed the face of home entertainment, emerged the victor in a format war during the late 1970’s and early 1980’s? a) 8mm b) Betamax c) VHS d) V‐Cord Congratulations to last month’s Trivia Contest winner, Lorree Papenfus, with Robert Borg Construction, IL! Lorree’s name was drawn from the ϐishbowl for last month’s correctly answered question: Which technology, developed in the 1940’s, was inspired by Morse Code?: d) Bar codes Who Else Wants To Win a $25 Amazon Gift Card? To enter: Go to www.Syscon-inc.com/Trivia and type in your answer. All correct answers will be put into a ϐishbowl and we’ll ran‐ domly draw the winner. The Winner will be contacted shortly after the deadline and will be announced in next month’s newsletter. Deadline: June 20, 2017 -- 4 of 4 -