Veranda Technologies

05/19/2024

Several of our clients have reached out recently about making positive changes towards growth in the next year or so. We have 4 appointments coming up in the next 2 weeks to:
~ Add a new computer and improve wireless access for a client
~ Add a new server for a client that wants to step up their game and increase security and productivity
~ Potentially upgrade several solid state hard drives in 5 or 6 machines at a third client
~ Potentially add 2 or 3 computers at an architectural client that's busier than ever on renovation work

A lot of our day-to-day work is supporting existing infrastructure... and that's great... but I really love it when I can help clients improve and grow. It's why I started this little venture over 15 years ago... to do BETTER than just being the guy you call when something isn't working properly. Planning... building efficiencies... thinking outside of the box...

05/06/2024

Just another great client hitting their 10-year mark doing business with VERANDA TECHNOLOGIES! Thank you to Jeff Bevacqua, Billy Wheeler, Lisa and the entire crew at Joe’s Service Center on Mantoloking Road in Brick, NJ.

02/22/2024

CELL PHONE OUTAGE ACROSS MANY STATES IN THE USA.

02/22/2024

MAJOR CELL PHONE OUTAGE: There is a cellular phone outage affecting customers in many states throughout the US this morning. This is affecting AT&T's network, as well as Verizon and T-MOBILE... and smaller carriers like Boost, Straight Talk and Consumer Cellular. In many cases, you cannot make calls, including to 911. Some media outlets are reporting that they have confirmation that texting 911 works, but that isn't yet conclusive. This outage is also affecting DATA usage on all of the affected networks. If you put your phone onto WiFi, that will get you around the DATA issues, of course, but cellular calling will still be affected.

01/13/2023

COMCAST SCAM: If you receive a call, claiming to be from Comcast, and they want to connect to your modem or machine, hang up the phone.

11/25/2022

This is not a post encouraging or discouraging investing in crypto. But, if you do/are investing in crypto, please, for the love of everything, learn about cold storage, and why you shouldn't hold your crypto assets in an online exchange. Veranda Technologies can help. As part of our suite of consulting services, we are aware of the risks, benefits, pitfalls in the crypto arena. Using an online exchange like Coinbase, Binance, Gate.io is often necessary to buy or sell, but your assets should be kept and stored offline, in a private wallet. The problem is, that process when first starting out, is cumbersome and confusing. Again, we can help demystify that process in a couple short hours.

09/21/2022

IF YOU USE MALWAREBYTES, they are having issues this morning - popups indicating malware going to GOOGLE and YOUTUBE services.

02/18/2022

A new type of scam for those posting items for sale on certain sites. Here is the short of it. This could be FB, Craiglist, eBay, etc.

1. You post something for sale on a site

2. You get a message from a scammer asking you if the product is still available for sale.

3. You reply yes which then lets them know you have a valid live phone number.

4. You get a message from a scammer that they are sending you a code to ensure you are not a scammer and a real person. They ask you to read them the code to make sure it matches.

5. The scammer then takes the code you provide to them and goes to google and uses the code you provided to reset your password.

6. The code they sent you is Google's multifactor authentication code.

7. If you give them the code you validated the MFA and they will get in your emails and lock you out which is bad.

THEY WILL HAVE ACCESS TO ALL YOUR ACCOUNT INFORMATION AFTER THAT. Including anything else, you might be using google to authenticate too.

Pass this on.

02/05/2022

As good as I am, I almost had a potential security injection into one of my own machines. Key words here are: ALMOST and POTENTIALLY. But here's why I was okay. Computer security is about LAYERS of protection. Having antivirus software is great. Having a firewall is great. Having strong passwords are great. Having good backups are great. But in today's world, if you don't have ALL of the above, your chances of being hit by something increase. On one of my OWN MACHINES, my security software started jumping up and down a couple weeks back about a threat it was blocking. I was very quickly able to confirm that no real actions were taking place (the AV software was preventing that) - but this threat had gotten past two layers of my fortress. Even if it had been missed by my AV software, another local firewall would have caught it... and even if it snuck past that, I'd have backups and wouldn't have lost any data anyway. But it illustrates an important message... I have been doing this for over 15 years and I am exceptional in this particular area... and the bad guys still beat 2 of my 5 layers. Thankfully I had the other 3.

If you're not sure you have enough protection... let's talk!
NOTE: This was a personal machine and in no way came even close to affecting any of our clients!

10/21/2021

Have a smartphone or watch? About to ride a roller coaster? USE AIRPLANE MODE. According to new statistics, smartphones and some apps like Life360 are wreaking havoc on the 911 emergency system. From May until early October 2021, one County in Tennessee (Sevier County) received nearly 16,000 accidental 911 calls. Of those, 60%—nearly 10,000 —came from amusement park rides, 911 dispatch director Todd Spence said. If the power button is pressed rapidly 5 times on many phones, it will trigger a call to 911. And Life 360 has a feature that calls if it detects a "sudden stop" like in an accident, but roller coasters trigger this all the time. Dispatchers are required to make voice contact with every caller, so it's incredibly taxing to the system. Use your phone's AIRPLANE MODE before getting on rides!
https://www.kvue.com/article/news/investigations/roller-coasters-are-causing-smart-devices-to-accidentally-call-sevier-county-911/51-3d6a1fb0-9876-407b-8afd-04da51e91ce7?fbclid=IwAR33kHhBU0LKuBP2WtaCA53qhJfuTIDmYAZMX3EBCXpYQdLsC6WSSOEQ79Q

In the popular tourism destination of Sevier County, the 911 dispatch center director estimates 60% of accidental calls come from amusement park rides.

09/13/2021

Apple users: Update to latest version of software

Apple on Monday advised all users to update their devices after researchers warned that the Israeli spyware company NSO Group had developed a way to take control over nearly any Apple computer, watch or iPhone.

“It’s absolutely terrifying,” said John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at The Citizen Lab, which recently discovered the software exploit and notified Apple about it. The group published a report about it Monday.

The malicious software takes control of an Apple device by first sending a message through iMessage, the company’s default messaging app, and then hacking through a flaw in how Apple processes images. It is what’s known in the cybersecurity industry as a “zero-click” exploit — a particularly dangerous and pernicious flaw that doesn’t require a victim clicking a link or downloading a file to take over.

People whose devices have been exploited are extremely unlikely to realize they’ve been hacked, Scott-Railton said. —NBC