Net-Tech LLC is excited to now be able to service clients in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and Teton County Idaho. Check out the Service Coverage Area Map on our Services page to see the new expanded area. We certainly can go outside of this area for clients; the map shows what locations we cover without additional Travel Time fees.

What is social engineering?  Chances are you haven’t heard of it unless you work for a financial institution, and have had training on it. Wikipedia defines it as the following:

Social engineering is the act of manipulating people into performing actions or divulging confidential information, rather than by breaking in or using technical cracking techniques; essentially a fancier, more technical way of lying.[1] While similar to a confidence trick or simple fraud, the term typically applies to trickery or deception for the purpose of information gathering, fraud, or computer system access; in most cases the attacker never comes face-to-face with the victim.

 ”What has this got to do with me?” you may ask. Do you use email? Do you surf the internet? If you do, then you should be aware of social engineering and hopefully protect yourself before you become a victim.  Take the latest victims of the “Here you Have” Virus. The users who were infected didn’t get the virus by surfing or reading email. Instead they were duped with an email that piqued their interest, and then clicked on a link that launched the virus. So the victims essentially installed the virus themselves.

Here is an snippet from a TechNewsWorld (click on link to read the whole article) concerning the virus and social engineering:

“Attacks like this latest worm are social engineering, and companies and individuals need to invest in education to really make a difference.”User ignorance and curiosity are the major factors that help phishing attacks succeed, Abrams told TechNewsWorld.

 

Here are some examples of the messages that are so enticing that people just have to check out:

“This is the document I told you about, you can find it here”

“This is the free download sex movies, you can find it here”

Here are a few tips I tell my clients.

1)       Make sure you have a good anti-virus (if it is free, it is not good)

2)      Did you ask for information? If you didn’t request it and you don’t know the person or company then don’t open it or click on the link.

3)      If it sounds too good to be true – it is.

Sounds easy? Protecting yourself comes down to common sense. Many times I am requested to clean up a virus and the user tells me, “I knew I shouldn’t click on it, but I did.” Many times your first instinct is correct. Verify with the person who sent it if you are not sure. It will save you money.

Are you ready to memorize a new acronym? Try SPLL, or maybe SPL which Stands for Silicon Photonics Laser Link or without the “Laser”. Intel has developed a new optical technology that uses light over fiber optics to speed up data transmissions inside computers instead of traditional copper.  They have already tested speeds of 50Gbps with the potential to reach 1Tbps. This is fast, very fast. An example they have given is it would take 1 second to download a full HD movie and you could download the entire Library of Congress in 2 minutes.

Of course it will be several years before it hits the market, and will mainly be geared toward devices instead of PCs at first. In fact don’t hold your breath to use the new acronym, since Intel will be selling their Light Peak technology which transfers at speeds of 10Gbps as a USB replacement. This is nothing to sneeze at either, since the current USB 3.0 has a theoretical transfer rate of 4.8 Gbs per second.  Still, I’m excited about the possibilities.

They say you either love Apple or hate them. For me it’s more of a Love/Hate relationship. I love their products for their ease of use and slick appearances. I hate the company for their “My way, or the Highway,” attitude. Take this latest round of Apple idiocrasies, the antennae problem with their new iPhone 4. Within hours of it being released to the public there were several hundred complaints concerning the antenna and signal.  Their first response was to blame the user for holding it wrong. Then as more and more people complained they came up with the software algorithm story about how their formula didn’t match with others ….Blah, blah, and blah. They are releasing a software update to fix the issue.  Apple then told people they need to purchase a bumper guard to protect from people holding it the wrong way. Again they are saying, because you’re and idiot and can’t hold the phone correctly then you need to buy this add-on.  Then when users rioted the internet from the audacity Apple exhibited, they broke and decided to give away these bumpers.  

Is this the attitude of a company that cares about its consumers? No, it is a company that cares about making money no matter the road they take to do it.  Deny any problem so as not to admit fault and therefore responsibility. This is nothing new for Apple. This is not the first time they have reacted this way. In fact, they always have been this way. Take their App Store as an example.  They opened their doors for developers to make applications for the iPhone, but use it more as a brain storming session to harbor new ideas and usurp them as their own. They later claim that they already had this app in mind so they won’t let the developer publish their work. Even the FCC has been involved in scrutinizing their business practices.

Isn’t Microsoft just the same as Apple?  No, they aren’t. Microsoft has done most of the same mistakes Apple is making. The difference is they learned from them and the public backlash and have grown from it to a company that will admit it is not infallible and instead works on resolving problems instead of pointing fingers.

Just wanted to give you a heads up. All the advertisements on my web page I fully endorse. I use the products at the businesses I contract to and I use them on my home computer. I get a little tiny percentage if you buy something by clicking on the link on my website, however, that is not why I have added them to my site. I believe in the products and want you to feel comfortable knowing this is what a professional would recommend.

Got any questions or need help with any of the products I endorse. Feel free to contact me and I will help you figure it out.

It’s the new “buzz” word on the net, but do you really know what it means? In simplest terms it means running all your applications and saving your data using the Internet. Hmmm… first question that pops into my mind is where does the data go? Good question, I’m not sure anyone really knows definitively. The idea is to use computers (whose computers is always a good question too,)  from around the world to hold portions of your data, to replicate your data and to provide access to your data from any Internet enabled computer. The problem with that is if you can get to it from anywhere so can hackers/identity thieves.  Do you really feel comfortable putting your business or personal information on the web for anyone to read? “I’ve got nothing to hide,” is a comment I hear a lot. However, if you think about it a little more you may come to realize that that is what the identity thieves rely on. They glean information about you, even something as innocuous as your favorite baseball team, and then utilize that through social engineering to gain access to your accounts. Seem far fetched? It’s not. It happens everyday to nice people like you. 

There is a place for Cloud Computing, but generally this will be large corporations with their own server farm in a closed network. This way the company controls their own data and their own bandwidth. They can control their environment. The average small business and I dare say up to medium sized businesses do not need, nor can afford the cost of this internal structure and therefore would have to rely on a public network to utilize Cloud Computing.

This is just one reason Cloud Computing is a bad idea … for small businesses and the average consumer. Don’t take my word for it, do a google search on “cons cloud computing” and read for yourself.  Even the experts are not convinced it’s a good idea and contradict themselves in some articles. Oh and FYI “Cloud Computing” is not exactly new. Over ten years ago at COMDEX the hype was ASP (Application Service Provider) in where they would rent you the use of an application over the Internet, like say Microsoft Word. Nobody uses this currently with great success other than large corporations on internal networks. They have added online storage for your data to ASP, which we already agreed was a bad idea, and changed the name to “Cloud Computing”.  Sounds cool though, huh?