Best Practices for an Effective VoIP Deployment

If you’re not using VoIP yet, then you’re behind the times. The pandemic taught companies that they need to reach as many operational areas as possible from anywhere. If your building is evacuated, how are you going to answer the landline phone? Having Sarah who is working from home call a customer from her personal number can come back to bite you should she leave the company. Cloud-based phone systems are now becoming the norm for a lot of reasons. But this doesn’t mean they’re always set up right. Have you had trouble with your VoIP service? Does your company directory have only two options because you can’t figure out how to set up more? VoIP also needs to have bandwidth resources, and if it doesn’t, calls can drop in a heartbeat. One bad experience is all a potential customer needs to cause them to lose trust in you. Here are a few best practices to improve your VoIP business phone system. Use Quality of Service settings on your router or firewall What is quality of service? In networking terms, QoS enables organizations to adjust their overall network traffic by prioritizing specific high-performance applications and services. Common high priority traffic includes VoIP, video conferencing, streaming media, internet protocol television (IPTV), and video-on-demand. By setting the quality of service settings on your router to prioritize your VoIP service, you are ensuring that your VoIP traffic is given the highest priority when passing through the router. Have a backup Internet Connection Internet outages happen. By having a backup Internet connection, you can ensure that your VoIP service will fail-over to your backup connection during an outage and you don’t experience any downtime for your phone service. Even if you don’t use VoIP, having a backup Internet connection is recommended these days. It’s likely that most everything (if not everything) your company uses to function and accomplish your work is connected through the Internet. By having a redundant connection, you’ll keep productivity up and costly downtime to a minimum. Give your Team Time and Training to Learn the System This sounds obvious, but many times we expect employees to know all of the ins and outs of new technologies in a short amount of time. By giving them proper training, including hands-on training and how-to materials covering their new phones and auto-attendants, we can help expedite this process. Make sure your VoIP provider will be providing some kind of training before closing any deal. We’ve found hands-on training to be the best and with a little bit of time, most employees will be pros at the new system and love all of the new features. Use a Local Provider for VoIP Use a local provider for your VoIP deployment. This way you can have a local resource to call for support or come on-site for troubleshooting if needed. We like to think you won’t have any issues with your VoIP service, but things happen, and having someone local to rely on can be extremely beneficial. Faster response times and being able to have someone come on-site to troubleshoot issues can be invaluable. Looking to move to VoIP? Contact us today to arrange a free consultation and see how your business would benefit from moving to VoIP.

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Email Security Best Practices

Uncategorized / Pennyrile Technologies

Email Security Best Practices Rising incidents of email scams, phishing attempts, ransomware, and compromised accounts have made it more important than ever to protect your email against ongoing and newly emerging threats. Almost every business relies on email to some degree. From communication with employees and clients to marketing and billing, email is one of the most important tools businesses use and has also become a prime target for cyber-criminals. So how do we keep our email communications safe from these threats? We will go over (4) email security best practices that will help strengthen your defenses against malicious actors looking to take advantage of your business. Password Specifics Having a good password is one of the best defenses against unauthorized usage. By implementing strong password guidelines and policies, it will help set a standard in your business and prevent accounts from being compromised by brute force attacks and other means. Some general password guidelines include: • Create strong passwords. The NIST has recently updated their password guidelines with new recommendations. • Don’t reuse passwords across accounts. • Don’t share passwords with other employees. • Don’t write down passwords. Use password managers instead. Multi-factor Authentication Another way to secure your email is to have Multi-Factor Authentication enabled. Multi-Factor Authentication, or MFA, is a technology that requires the user to verify their identity with their password in other ways. For example, a user that signs in with their password would also be instructed to put in a number they received via text or an authenticator app on their phone or PC. MFA is a great way to secure your email. Even if a malicious actor has your email password, it will require them to have the number only you would have access to. Some examples of these MFA tools include the Microsoft Authenticator App, Google Authenticator App, Duo Security, and Authy. There are many different authenticators available and ultimately, the decision is up to the individual or IT department. Spam Filtering / Gateway Defense Every business should be utilizing spam filtering or perimeter/gateway defense. An email gateway will act as your first line of defense against threats and stops most before they ever reach your inbox. They scan incoming and outgoing emails for threats including viruses, phishing attempts, and spoofing. Other advantages of email scanning include stopping spam before it reaches your employees inboxes. This helps save your employees time from being wasted going through hundreds of spam emails and allowing them to focus on other tasks at work. Some gateway defenses will also provide a 24×7 emergency inbox to users when the normal email environment is unavailable. If your business hasn’t experienced an email outage yet (looking at you Microsoft 365), it’s only a matter of time before you do. End-User Training Unfortunately end users are one of the weakest links when it comes to email security. But with proper training, you can teach your employees how to spot, avoid, and report real-world attacks from phishing attempts to impersonation and other social engineering attacks. Security-awareness training should include courses that end-users can understand and are not boring or hard to get through. Some courses can be overly time-consuming and poorly conceived making it harder for the end user to properly digest the material. Interactive materials can help with this. Phishing simulation training should also be conducted. By sending out realistic phishing emails to employees, you can gauge their awareness of attacks and what to do with the emails when they receive them. This helps identify users that may need additional training and works well with the security-awareness training on teaching employees how to identify, avoid, and report email threats. Email Security Best Practices Conclusion As a business, it’s imperative that you keep your employees, customers, and data safe from security threats. By creating and implementing a standard set of email security best practices for employees, you can protect your company from cyber-criminals and external threats. If you need help implementing these, please contact us to schedule a risk-free assessment.

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NDAA Compliant Video Surveillance Solutions

Uncategorized / Pennyrile Technologies

On August 13, 2019 section 889 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) went into effect. This section prohibits the usage of certain video surveillance, telecommunications services, equipment and components manufactured by specific vendors in federal buildings as well as federally-contracted developments. Federal agencies are also prohibited from doing business with contractors that use surveillance technology from the blacklisted products. The legislation was passed to combat national security and intellectual property threats that face the United States. The NDAA ban also extends to other manufacturers in cases in which the video surveillance cameras or systems from the specified vendors are offered under another manufacturer’s brand name typical of OEM relationships. Banned Camera Brands Camera brands that were specifically banned by the NDAA include: Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Company Dahua Technology Huawei Technologies Company Hytera Communications Corporation ZTE Corporation The ban also includes any brands that function under or as part of these companies, including affiliates. NDAA Compliant Cameras In order to be NDAA compliant, the manufacturer cannot use a chipset or component made by any of the banned brands. Many manufacturers and distributors are not clear on the exact components and chips inside the cameras which can make it difficult to tell if a particular security camera is NDAA compliant. You will want to ensure your supplier is upfront with you about the components and manufacturer. However, one example of an NDAA compliant brand is Axis Communications. Their entire product portfolio is considered NDAA compliant. They help achieve this by using an in-house developed ARTPEC chip and not rely on outside manufacturers for components. It should also be noted that some companies manufacture separate lines of NDAA compliant cameras specific for the US market. An example of these would be the Honeywell 30 Series and 60 Series security cameras. NDAA Compliant Video Surveillance Installation If you are looking for NDAA compliant video surveillance, Pennyrile Technologies can assist. While some of our catalog products may not be NDAA compliant, we have a growing list of fully compliant security products ready to be installed on any government property or business that would prefer to use NDAA compliant security cameras. Call us at (931) 771-1149 to go over your needs and schedule a site survey for a quote. We routinely install cameras for big box stores and retail, restaurants, warehouses, hotels, manufacturers, and more in Western Kentucky & Tennessee.

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Windows 11 is Here. Is Your Business Ready?

Informative / Pennyrile Technologies

Windows 11 became available starting on October 5, 2021. The free upgrade to Windows 11 has begun rolling out to eligible PCs and PCs that are pre-loaded with Windows 11 are slowly becoming available for purchase. What’s New in Windows 11? Windows 11 features major changes to the Windows GUI, including a redesigned Start menu, the replacement of its “live tiles” with a separate “Widgets” panel on the taskbar, the ability to create tiled sets of windows that can be minimized and restored from the taskbar as a group, and new gaming technologies inherited from Xbox Series X and Series S such as Auto HDR and DirectStorage on compatible hardware. Internet Explorer is also replaced by Microsoft Edge and Microsoft Teams is integrated into the Windows shell. Microsoft has also announced plans to offer support for Android apps to run on Windows 11, with support for Amazon Appstore and manually-installed packages but such support isn’t available at release. Microsoft is Rolling out Windows 11 in a Phased and Measured Approach Per Microsoft, Windows 11 will be phased in and measured with a focus on quality. Following the tremendous learnings from Windows 10, we want to make sure we’re providing you with the best possible experience. That means new eligible devices will be offered the upgrade first. The upgrade will then roll out over time to in-market devices based on intelligence models that consider hardware eligibility, reliability metrics, age of device and other factors that impact the upgrade experience. We expect all eligible devices to be offered the free upgrade to Windows 11 by mid-2022. If you have a Windows 10 PC that’s eligible for the upgrade, Windows Update will let you know when it’s available. You can also check to see if Windows 11 is ready for your device by going to Settings > Windows Update and select Check for updates*. If the upgrade isn’t available to you yet, but you want to upgrade now, there are a few options. The first and easiest upgrade path is to download the Windows 11 Update Assistant. Choose Run after the download finishes to start the upgrade and make sure your hardware is compatible. Then Accept and Install to agree to the licensing terms and begin the installation. When the program is finished installing, you’ll be prompted to restart your computer. Your PC might restart several times during the process of finishing the installation, so don’t be alarmed. Just keep your PC on until everything’s done. Alternatively, you can create a bootable USB or DVD of the Windows 11 installation media using the same link above. Use this option to reinstall or perform a clean install of Windows 11 on a new or used PC. If you go the bootable USB media route, you will need a blank USB flash drive with at least 8GB of space. Any content on the flash drive will be deleted. Should You Upgrade Now? We currently recommend holding off on Windows 11 until next year. Windows 11’s first big update is already causing some major issues for users with AMD CPUs. PCs with older CPUs or those without TPM chips are not available to be upgraded anyways and may require new hardware purchases. Waiting until next year will hopefully give Microsoft some time to work out any major bugs and issues with the new release. This will also give end users some time to start using the new operating system on their home computers and ease their transition into the new interface before using it on their work computers. How to Block Windows 11 If your business isn’t quite ready for Windows 11, the easiest way to block the upgrade is via the Group Policy Editor. Click on the Start Menu Type gpedit.msc and load the Group Policy Editor Go to Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Update > Windows Update for Business Double-click on “Select the target feature update version” Set the policy to Enabled Type 21H1 into the field Close the Group Policy Editor If your business isn’t ready for Windows 11, you can safely continue using Windows 10 through October 2025 when Microsoft will end its support for it.

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The Importance of Windows 10 Updates & Automatic Maintenance

Guides / Pennyrile Technologies

When thinking about keeping your computer secure from threats like Viruses, Malware, or Ransomware, the first thing you might think of is a good anti-virus software. While anti-virus is important, one of the most important steps in protecting your Windows 10 PC is keeping Windows and and the software on your PC patched and up-to-date. These updates help protect your computer from falling victim to exploits hackers can use to access your system. Why It is Important to Update Windows 10 Patches, updates, and hot-fixes are essential for keeping your computer and network secure. The threat of hackers obtaining your personal information has been ever more apparent lately and you need to be vigilant. Most Microsoft updates or hot-fixes are centered around security and/or threat vulnerability. A hacker only has to penetrate your computer’s defenses once, and they can get any information they want. Malware can enter a system by an exploit, whether by a user or program. The exploit can then be used to gain access to your computer or information. Patches, updates, and hot-fixes are sent out to fix those exploits or make them more challenging to access. Not all of the patches are to fix exploits however. Patches can be released that add new features, increase stability, or make the software faster for example. Some computer manufacturers provide programs to help assist users with updates with minimal intervention. Some good examples of programs that assist with updating your system and checking overall computer health are Dell SupportAssist, HP Assistant, and Lenovo System Update. These are just a few examples of the many manufacturer’s programs that can assist you with updates. How to Update Windows 10 To manually update Windows 10, you can follow the instructions below: Go to search on the taskbar and type in check for updates, then click on the first result. On the next screen, click on Check for Updates. When it is done scanning, it will automatically start installing Windows updates. Below the check for updates button, you might see View Optional Updates. Optional updates is where you can get feature updates, monthly non-security updates (also called preview updates), and driver updates. Alternatively, you can click on Start > Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > Check for updates. How to Uninstall a Windows 10 Update With Windows Update, you don’t always have control over which updates are installed. Sometimes bad updates are released that can cause your computer or a software to act unexpectedly. The updates could cause programs to crash, lose some functionality, or cause the dreaded Blue Screen of Death. In a business or production environment, we recommended testing the updates on a small number of computers before fully deploying them. If your computer is having issues after a recent update, you can try uninstalling it as well. Thankfully, it’s pretty easy to view and uninstall recent Windows 10 updates. If a patch for windows 10 has gone bad, it may be time to remove it. To view or uninstall a recent update, follow these steps: Go to search on the taskbar and type in check for updates, then click on the first result. On the next screen, click on View Update History. Next, click on Uninstall Updates. From here you can view the name of the update, the program and version, name of the publisher, and the date the update was installed. Click on the update you wish to remove and click on Uninstall. Windows will begin uninstalling the update and you may be prompted to restart your computer once it finishes. How to Update Drivers in Windows 10 Updating drivers has become a lot easier with Windows 10, especially compared to previous operating systems from Microsoft. Drivers can now be installed automatically through Windows Update when you check for updates. If you would like to manually install a driver though, you can follow these steps. Manually Update Device Driver In the search box on the taskbar, enter device manager, then select Device Manager. Select a category to see names of devices, then right-click (or press and hold) the one you’d like to update. Select Search automatically for updated driver software. Select Update Driver. If Windows doesn’t find a new driver, you can try looking for one on the device manufacturer’s website and follow their instructions. If you are having an issue with a connected device and would like to try reinstalling the driver, you can also follow the steps below. Manually Reinstall a Device Driver In the search box on the taskbar, enter device manager, then select Device Manager. Right-click (or press and hold) the name of the device, and select Uninstall. Restart your PC. Windows will attempt to reinstall the driver. Keeping Your Business’s Computers Updated Manually updating your computers can take a lot of time and effort. Pennyrile Technologies can help automate this process and ensure your computers are always kept updated with the latest patches and fixes. We know updates can happen at inconvenient moments. You can’t always control when your computer decides to update itself and sometimes it happens when you’re in the middle of something. Right when you need your computer most, it can be busy installing an update and you won’t be able to use it. With our IT Support Services, we proactively manage and maintain your technology environment so all your devices are always health and updated consistently and reliably. Save yourself time and effort so you can run your business not having to worry about keeping your computers up-to-date.

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5 Easy Steps for Choosing a Good Web Host

Guides / Pennyrile Technologies

Looking to start a new website or on the search for a new web hosting provider? You probably aren’t alone! It’s estimated there are 1.2 billion websites on the Internet as of January, 2021. Trying to search for the best web hosting provider will return hundreds of choices from the search engines and trying to determine what information is valuable or actually helpful can be daunting. With that in mind, we’ve put together a list of five steps for choosing the best web hosting provider for your business or upcoming project. We hope this will make your search just a little bit easier! Table of Contents Determine Your Needs Defining A Budget Support Needs Server Speeds Extra Features Determine Your Needs One of the first things we recommend doing is sitting down and writing a list of all your needs and a general plan for your website. Will your website only be a few pages and static (rarely updated) or will you be updating the site constantly and adding new content, or hosting lots of pictures and video? If the website is small with only a few pages then you can usually choose a web hosting plan with a small amount of storage. Typically 5GB of storage or less works for most small to medium-sized web sites. What about bandwidth? Unless you own an extremely high traffic site, then this probably won’t factor into your decision. The average website uses less than 20GB of bandwidth a month so unless you are getting 20,000 + visits a day and have lots of content on your site, a smaller plan should be fine. If you receiving that many visits a day, you should be able to log into your current host’s control panel for a breakdown of your monthly traffic. Using that information will be helpful if moving to another host. Defining A Budget For Web Hosting You probably know the old saying, “you get what you pay for”. Like many things, this is relevant to web hosting too. There are countless hosting companies out there with cheap hosting plans and minimal services. Shared hosting plans will typically start around $4.99/mo from the budget providers and go up to $24.99/mo or more if you are needing large amounts of storage and bandwidth or looking at a premium hosting. When signing up for services, also be careful to look at the fine print on renewals. Some providers may lure you in with a cheap price, but then increase your bill by 50% or more once the renewal comes! Lastly, you may be able to save money on your hosting by paying in advance for a year or more. You may want to try month-to-month at first to see if you are happy with the service they provide though. Support Needs for Web Hosting What happens when you need support from your web host? Make sure the web hosting provider you choose has good support. Many of the cheapest web hosting plans have to skimp on the services somewhere and support is usually where it’s happening. Can you call the provider and speak with a support technician in a timely manner or do you have to wait on the phone for 30 minutes to an hour or more? Some providers may only offer email-based support or chat-based support as well. What about resolution times to issues raised? If you have an issue, does it get resolved in 10-15 minutes or does it take days? Some providers may even charge extra for “premium” support where that would be considered regular support by others. Web Hosting Server Speeds Finding a web host with fast servers is important when having an online presence. It’s estimated the average user will only wait 3 seconds for a page to load before they leave a site, so choosing a host with good hardware can be very beneficial. When looking at Shared Hosting Packages, note that your website will be hosted on a server alongside other websites. Some providers may use cheaper hardware or overload their servers with too many websites to save money. Alternatively, you could look at VPS Hosting or Dedicated hosting which would grant you more dedicated resources, added security, and increased scalability. Pricing is much higher than Shared Hosting however, with VPS Hosting usually running anywhere from $20 to $100 a month. Dedicated hosting is even more expensive and typically ranges in price from $80 to as much as $500 a month. Extra Features to Look For Another thing to look for are extra features the web hosting provider offers. While some providers may include these as default in their hosting plans, others may charge extra for them which can add up rather quickly. Here are some of our favorite extra features to look for when searching for a web host provider. Free SSL Certificates – This varies a lot across providers. Some include them for free while others may charge anywhere from $5/year to more than $100/yr. If you have a website, we highly recommend installing an SSL certificate for your site. It helps secure the site for your visitors and is also a ranking factor for appearing in Google search results. Uptime Guarantee – What kind of uptime guarantee does the provider offer? An uptime guarantee of 99.9% allows for 8 hours, 45 minutes, and 56 seconds of downtime a year while a 99.99% uptime guarantee allows for only 52 minutes and 35 seconds of downtime a year. 30 Day Money-Back Guarantee – Does the provider backup their service with a 30 day money-back guarantee? If so, they are probably confident in their abilities and services they offer to their clients. Free Domain – This isn’t as common as some of the other features we look for, but it can add to additional savings. Domain renewal pricing varies wildly across registrars and hosts and usually depends on extension (.com, .net, etc.). The savings from a free domain can by anywhere from $5/yr to $20/yr or

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Cell Phone Booster Installation Guide

Guides / Pennyrile Technologies

Cell phones have become a necessity in these trying times. They are our main form of communication for work, contacting family, or watching videos. Many people often do not have an excellent connection to the cell network. It is a common problem even if you have a well-known carrier as your cell provider. The issue usually involves: Not being close enough to a tower. Being in a building that blocks a lot of the cell signal. Having multiple towers around you that cause interference. Suppose you live or work in an area where it is hard to get a good signal for your phone. You might go about your daily activities just dealing with this connection issue, including dropped calls or reduced voice quality. A cell phone booster is an excellent way of fixing these connection issues. They take the existing signal and boost it while transmitting the signal out in key places so your phone can have a better connection. Before You Begin Before getting a cell phone booster, consider some of the following questions: Do I have no signal where I need my cell phone? Do I often need my cell phone to complete tasks? Do most of my cell phone interactions get interrupted because of signal loss? Do I have a better signal outside than I do inside? Is it possible that the building blocks the cell signal from reaching my phone? Is the distance to the closest cell tower possibly what causes my signal loss? Chances are, if you say yes to some or all of these questions, then you could benefit from a cell phone booster. Before you start, you must have at least 1 bar of usable signal outside or on the roof of the building you are installing the booster on. What do we mean by usable? You need to be able to place a call and use data reliably. When running a speed test, you should have decent upload and download speeds. Cell boosters bring signals inside from the outdoors. If the signal outside your building is not usable, the booster will not help. Choosing Your Indoor Cell Phone Booster Antenna When you purchase a cell booster, you will need to decide which types of antennas you will need for both inside and outside the premises. The most common types of indoor antenna are dome (omni-directional) and panel (directional) antennas. The dome antenna will broadcast the signal in all directions, while the panel antenna will broadcast in only one direction. Panel antennas will typically have a stronger signal because they broadcast in one direction. Because of their directionality they are better at penetrating internal walls and floors. They are typically mounted on walls and are good for spot locations. Dome antennas will broadcast the signal 360 degrees and may cover a larger area, but with a weaker signal due to their omni-directional broadcast. They are typically mounted on ceilings, but if you have very high ceilings (20 feet or higher) the signal may be reduced. Depending on the building and the area you are trying to increase your cell reception will determine which antenna you use. You may even wish to use a combination of the two. Choosing Your Outdoor Cell Phone Booster Antenna Much like the indoor antennas, you will need to choose an omni-directional antenna or directional antenna for your outdoor antenna. This antenna is responsible for receiving the signal outside the building and sending to your amplifier. An omni-directional antenna will receive cellular signals in a 360-degree window. They are great for accessing nearby cell towers and if you need to boost the signal of multiple different cell phone carriers. The directional antenna will only receive cellular signals from the general direction it is pointed. Their advantage is boosting signals from far off cellular towers or when you are dealing with weaker signals. Please note if you are using an omni-directional antenna, the antenna could become overburdened, especially within bustling urban areas. Because these antennas can pick up multiple cellular carriers, you may receive interference from multiple towers or have issues locking onto the signal of a specific tower causing dropped calls. A directional antenna is harder to set up, but they have an easier time locking onto a specific tower. On the down-side, they usually support 1 to 2 cellular providers and are limited by their angle of field due to their directional signal. Beginning Your Cell Phone Booster Installation After you have decided to purchase a cell phone booster, you will receive your booster, and then it is time for the install. The install will take some time and maybe a little more hands-on than you may like. You might decide to have someone install it for you. Then again, if you have the time and patience, you may want to install it yourself. Let us begin with the inventory of your equipment. When you receive your booster, you will typically be given: Cables Antenna Amplifier Grounding Cable Adapters Transmitters Installation Instructions The instructions included with the equipment should have a list of all the items that are in your installation package. This would also be an excellent time to read over the instructions and verify all parts are included. Pay close attention to the instructions on where to place the outdoor antenna. The outdoor antenna will receive the signal and send it to the amplifier. Before installing your booster, plan out where to place the inside antennas. Please pay close attention to how far apart they will be positioned and how much material is between them. If the antenna is too close, then there will be interference. There will not be as much coverage if they are too far apart either. If thick walls block the signal, the antenna range might not reach the surrounding rooms. This will also cause issues with coverage. Once you plan the layout for your inside antennas, we can begin finding the best position for your outside antenna. The process

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Exchange Server Vulnerability

Informative / Pennyrile Technologies

Microsoft Exchange Server Zero-Day Vulnerabilities Microsoft has recently notified users of multiple vulnerabilities for on-premises Exchange Servers that are being exploited by a nation-state affiliated group. These vulnerabilities exist in on-premises Exchange Servers 2010, 2013, 2016, and 2019.  Exchange Online is not affected. Microsoft highly recommends that you take immediate action to apply the patches for any on-premises Exchange deployments you have or are managing. The first priority being servers which are accessible from the Internet (e.g., servers publishing Outlook on the web/OWA and ECP). Microsoft attributes the attacks to a group it calls Hafnium, which it says is a state-sponsored threat actor that operates from China. The attackers used the bugs in on-premise Exchange servers to access email accounts of users. The four bugs are being tracked as CVE-2021-26855, CVE-2021-26857, CVE-2021-26858, and CVE-2021-27065. Huntress has challenged Microsoft’s claim that Chinese hackers executed “limited and targeted attacks” against on-premises Exchange servers, arguing the scope of compromise is fairly widespread. The Ellicott City, Md.-based managed detection and response (MDR) vendor said roughly 400 of the 2,000 Exchange servers the company has checked are susceptible to the zero-day vulnerabilities being exploited by Chinese hacking group Hafnium, with an additionally 100 servers potentially vulnerable. In addition, Huntress said nearly 200 of its partners’ servers have received malicious web shell payloads. Patching Exchange Server Vulnerabilities To patch these vulnerabilities, you should move to the latest Exchange Cumulative Updates and then install the relevant security updates on each Exchange Server. You can use the Exchange Server Health Checker script, which can be downloaded from GitHub (use the latest release). Running this script will tell you if you are behind on your on-premises Exchange Server updates (note that the script does not support Exchange Server 2010). We also recommend that your security team assess whether or not the vulnerabilities were being exploited by using the Indicators of Compromise we shared here. What is Microsoft Exchange Server? Microsoft Exchange Server is a email and calendaring server operating system developed by Microsoft. It’s used primarily by businesses to run email, calendars, contacts, and scheduling. It’s an alternate option to Microsoft’s cloud platform, Microsoft 365. Many larger businesses find that it is cheaper to run their own Exchange Server than pay the monthly costs associated with Microsoft 365. Microsoft Exchange Server’s first iteration was was called Exchange Server 4.0 and was released in 1996. The latest version is Exchange Server 2019 and was released in 2018. Exchange Patching Assistance If you need assistance patching these vulnerabilities, please reach out to our network support team. Pennyrile Technologies can also assist keeping your computers and servers updated along with migrating from on-premises Exchange Servers to Exchange Online and Office 365.

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Adobe Flash End of Life

Informative / Pennyrile Technologies

First announced back in July 2017, Adobe Flash has finally reached its’ end of life. As of December 31, 2020 downloads of the Flash player, as well as (presumably) any other Flash-related tools, will be removed from the Adobe websites. As of January 12, 2021, Adobe Flash Player will be disabled by default as well. Any versions that are older than KB4561600 (which was released in June 2020) will be blocked and no longer function on their own. With Flash support ending, it will begin disappearing from web browsers, websites, and applications. Even though many browsers will continue to disable Flash Player after the EOL Date and Adobe will block Flash content from running in Flash Player beginning January 12, 2021, Adobe began taking steps to help further secure users’ systems by prompting them to uninstall Flash Player starting in October 2020. To help secure users’ systems, Adobe strongly recommends removing unused components promptly. However, enterprise administrators can suppress Flash Player uninstall prompts by setting preferences available in the Flash Player configuration files. If you choose to suppress the uninstall prompt, this is entirely at the user’s own risk. Full details on the uninstall prompt settings and uninstalling Flash Player can be found in the Flash Player Administration guide (see ‘Suppressing EOL Uninstall Prompts’ section). For more information, you can view Adobe’s Flash Player EOL Enterprise Information Page.

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5 Reasons to Make the Switch to Managed Antivirus for Your Business

Information Technology / Pennyrile Technologies

Antivirus for home and for business serve the same purposes: they prevent viruses, malware, and other forms of cyber threats from deleting your data and causing damage. However, when it comes to your business, there’s often much more at stake. Below are five reasons to consider making the switch to managed antivirus and even managed antispam for your business as soon as possible. #1 – There’s No Weak Link With traditional antivirus installed on every machine, individual employees are responsible for ensuring updates go through in a timely manner. All it takes is one missed update and your entire network is at risk – much like a weak link in a chain. When you choose managed antivirus instead, your employees are no longer individually responsible for the security of your network. Updates occur system-wide, routinely, and automatically. #2 – It Can’t Be Turned Off Another common issue with traditional antivirus installed on each machine is its tendency to slow things down. Because of the “hiccups,” employees will often turn off the antivirus while running multiple spreadsheets (or performing other RAM-heavy duties) and forget to turn it back on. This is another weak link, and it can wreak havoc on your network. Managed antivirus cannot be turned off at the user level. #3 – It Catches What Your Employees Don’t Today’s scammers and cyber criminals are getting better and better at what they do. There’s a good chance you’ve trained your employees in the best way to spot a phishing or spam email, but as the years go by, it’s getting more difficult to tell what’s real and what isn’t. Managed antivirus catches potentially harmful emails even when your employees cannot. #4 – Responses are Immediate If you accidentally opened an email that contained a virus, would you know it by looking? Many people wouldn’t, and by the time they figured it out, the damage could be extensive. When you choose managed antivirus, the response to any issues that slip through the cracks is immediate. In the event viruses or malware slip through your defenses, your provider will jump into action – 24 hours a day – to remove the threat. #5 – It’s More Cost Effective Licensing for individual machines and users can become quite expensive, even for small businesses with only a handful of machines. Managed antivirus tends to cost much less, and the value it provides is unbeatable. For a flat monthly fee, companies gain access to antivirus for all of their machines that is easily scalable, regularly (and automatically) updated, and free from flaws created in an unmanaged antivirus setting. Managed antivirus is a fantastic choice for businesses of all sizes. It solves many common problems, and in the event that something does go wrong, there’s a team of experts behind you to find an immediate solution. The best part is that in many cases, it’s far more cost-effective than individual licenses, but it comes with much more than just the software. A network security analysis can help you determine whether managed antivirus or other security measures are required.

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5 Reasons to Make the Switch to Managed Antivirus for Your Business

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