the technology professionals

03/20/2025

Nearly every reported data breach ends with the recommendations to do the following:

1) Use a Strong Password - Let me suggest a Strong Passphrase. This could be a sentence that you know and can associate with that website login. Be sure to use a unique passphrase per website. Feel free to use a written diary that you keep in a safe place or a password manager. See us for more details about that. Length is more important than complexity, but let's be smart about passphrases, too.

2) Use Multifactor Authentication - This is enabling the website to send you a text or for you to enter a code from your Authenticator app. That app is enabled by a QR code for that website when you set up 2-factor or Multifactor authentication. Websites under attack - nearly everything that may include a payment system or financial information, so use it where you can. Again, see us for more information.

3) If a specific website or business is mentioned as having a breech and you use that website, change your password on that website. If it is a website you use a lot, change your password/passphrase 3 to 4 times a year to be a moving target.

4) Keep good backups of your data. Keep a full weekly backup a full monthly backup and store those backups off site. Test those backups to be sure they work. For more information, call us.

A good friend of mine in another state is still trying to recover from a ransomware attack. The 3 backups (which turned out to be of each other) were all encrypted and he is still down. He may be out of business soon if he can't pull his accounting or client information back up. Nearly 80% of small businesses fail after a Ransomware attack. Have a backup plan that takes into account Ransomware and keeps you in business.

03/07/2025

I do a LOT to be a great IT partner for our clients.
Here are 4 things that I don't do:
-spend their money recklessly
-get up early
-know it all
-say yes

Check out the details below, and let us know what we can do (or NOT do 😃) to become your great IT partner!

Here are 4 things that I DON'T DO that make me a GREAT IT partner for small businesses: 1. I DON'T spend my clients' money recklessly. -I'm careful with client money. Sometimes the solution to a tech problem is to upgrade software, or buy new hardware, or bring in Subject Matter Expe...

01/08/2024

Here is a public service announcement about something that has happened on Facebook recently. I’ve seen it twice and it appears to be a socially engineered post that appears on a page and people feel they need to click on the link. It usually tags yourself and a few of your friends to the post. The post could be of an accident that someone was injured or an obituary post of someone you know with a photo and a link with a questionable URL. DO NOT CLICK ON THAT LINK! REPORT IT TO FACEBOOK and remove it from your page. Links can run code and do undesirable things to your account. Enable Two Factor Authentication on your Facebook account now. Username/password is not enough anymore. Let’s stay safe out there!

12/21/2023

Something to feel good about today

11/22/2023

If you run into a website that may have been hacked and is infecting users upon landing on that page, you can report it at:

https://safebrowsing.google.com/safebrowsing/report_badware/?hl=en .

When you submit sites to us, some account and system information will be sent to Google. We will use the information you submit to protect Google products, infrastructure, and users from potentially harmful content. If we determine that a site violates Google’s policies, we may update the site's s...

11/22/2023

Ok, this is the second time I've seen this today - Pop-up Websites that appear after opening an attachment in Google that nag you to call a phone number provided and warning of viruses, viruses and more viruses being present on your computer.
Classic scammer ploy - whatever you do - don't call that number or let them on your computer. If you didn't have a problem before, they will be sure to install one and to take whatever data they want.
The Fix: Press Ctrl-Alt-Del and open up Task Manager, find Google Chrome and right click to End Task. That should stop the page and close the browser.
Next, hold down Shift-Ctrl-N (all 3 at the same time) and then relaunch Chrome into Safe Mode. If you failed to hold all three, repeat "The Fix" to close Chrome.
Now that Chrome is open and the offending page is closed, click on the 3 dots in the top right corner of Chrome and sellect Settings. On the menu on the left side, select Reset Settings, then "Restore Settings to their original defaults". Allow the spinning wheel to complete spinning and to finish back to the page you selected Restore.
Close Chrome and then reopen it. Check to be sure nothing pops up. You're done if the offending webpage does not reappear.

06/18/2023

Happy Father’s Day, Dad

05/27/2023

What’s on my mind? Ransomware!

How it works? Someone goes to a website or opens an attachment in an email from someone they might know or from a stranger. The wording in the email is socially engineered to create a response to motivate them to open the attachment or click on the link. The friend’s email may have been “spoofed” (sent as if it came from them, but didn’t leave from their mail server)

Once the attachment or link is opened to the bad website, a script runs and a payload with a small agent is downloaded and inserted into the targeted computer. This payload checks with it’s own server to be sure it is using the latest “undetectable” code and then begins silently sending files to the hacker’s server. It also looks for other computers on the network and sends a copy to the next computer.

This code doesn’t care what OS you’re using and can update itself at any time that detection software tries to identify it to a new version that hasn’t been detected yet.

This code can be on a system without detection silently sending files to the server.

On the hacker’s end, the data accumulates into digital buckets until they have most of the important data that can be used to determine a ransom amount that the target can afford to pay rather than dealing with the recovery (which will cost the victim in labor and downtime). Then, the signal is sent to begin encryption of all the data, and any attempt to open the file will display the Ransomware notice.

Companies may refuse to pay and begin to work through the recovery process, but this can cost a lot of additional labor and down time which inconveniences the customers of that company, and more often, a city or public.

Meanwhile, (and this is the new part), more and more threats of publishing more and more of the data to the public or dark web while the time is expiring. This is extortion at this point. Now, the level of data leaking out is more and more personal and could be about employees or customers, with the more personal data exposed.

Meanwhile, here I sit, waiting on a check, while systems are being cleaned and being brought slowly back on line.

Whenever a company reports they’ve been struck by Ransomware but no user information has been lost, they are unaware of how the Ransomware process works. Be aware, take appropriate action, have recovery plans in effect, and regarding email - hover over the sender’s name (to see the email address) and when in doubt - throw it out.

For smartphone users, be careful and use a mobile client that helps to keep you up to date on your OS and away from bad websites.

03/17/2023

Today's Tech Tip:
Push notifications are becoming the next threat to your browsers (Chrome, Edge, Firefox). Here is how to control those notifications:

Google Chrome:
1) Go to the 3 dots (Control Panel for Chrome) in the top right corner, click on the 3 dots
2) Select Settings
3) Select Privacy and Security from the list on the left side
4) Select Site Settings from the box in the center
5) Select Notifications from the next box that appears in the center
6) There you can see the websites that are not allowed and those that are allowed.

Remove any websites you wish to not see notifications from or those that you do not recognize.

Microsoft Edge:
1) Go to the Settings (3 dots in Edge) in the top right corner, click on the 3 dots
2) Select Settings
3) Select Cookies and site permissions from the list on the left side
4) Select Notifications from the list in the center
5) Look under Allow
6) From the list, choose to allow or block. You can also add websites directly to this list.

Mozilla Firefox:
1) Click on the Menu (3 lines) in the top right corner and select Settings
2) Select Privacy & Security from the list on the left
3) Scroll to the permissions section
4) Click on the Settings button to the right of Notifications
5) Click Remove Website on those you want to block

When in doubt, don't Allow notifications from a website you don't know. If you do, use the above steps to remove. Call us, if you need help

12/06/2022

Not only are the technology professionals providing the best IT Support today, we are actively training the next generation of tech pros for tomorrow!!! 🥰

11/19/2022

Nice to see a specialty cutter machine back in action so soon after returning the controlling PC that was needing to be rebuilt with a fresh copy of Windows

10/19/2022

Aww shucks....☺️☺️
Thank YOU for trusting the tech pros!