Technology News

The latest version of the Microsoft Pro series has finally surfaced. The new Surface Pro has just been released and is ready for purchase.  It includes a few changes and nice updates from the popular Surface Pro 4.

First though is the name. Those expecting Surface Pro 5 can keep waiting. Microsoft has gotten rid of any sequential number. Now it’s just Surface Pro, period.

The Surface Pro is best known for its versatility and can be used in laptop mode, studio mode, or tablet mode. The new model adds a little more functionality.

You can open the kickstand and add the signature cover for laptop use or lower the kickstand for studio use. A new hinge drops the machine down to 165 degrees from the previous 150 degree mark. Drop the kickstand and cover and you have a stand-alone tablet.

This follow-up model features a slightly thinner and lighter body. It has rounder edges. It is about 8.55 mm thick and around 1.7 pounds.

Screen size remains the same with a 12.3 inch “PixelSense” display.

Processors have been upgraded. The newer Intel seventh generation line provides Core m3, Core i5, and Core i7 U-series options. Look for a fan-less design with the Core m3 and Core i5 versions.

A key component for Surface Pro users is the Stylus pen. Microsoft is adding extra features for stylus use but unfortunately the pen no longer comes in the box. One must be had separately for $99. Still Microsoft has increased the pen’s sensitive pressure. It goes from 1024 pounds to 4096. This will be needed with more pen-centric features with Office.

One of those Office features is the Draw Tab from Microsoft’s OneNote note-taking app. It will be available shortly to use with PowerPoint, Word and Excel. Users get a very stylus-friendly set of basic drawing tools, including brush types and sizes, colors, and the ability to save favorite and frequently used combinations.

Microsoft is beta testing these pen upgrades now. They should be included when the company releases a product update later this spring.

The keyboard cover still remains an option. If you have a Surface Pro 4 version you can still use it on the new device. Separately the price runs about $130. Fabric covered colored models can also be had for a slightly higher premium. One in platinum, cobalt or burgundy blue will set you back $169.

Users can expect the device to work harder and longer. Microsoft is promising some 13.5 hours of battery life, up 50% over Surface Pro 4.

Connections include the one Full-size USB 3.0 plug-in, an SDXC card reader and headphone port. Front and rear cameras both provide 1080p HD video. You can record with dual microphones and play-back in Dolby Audio Premium sound.

Pricing is set to begin around the $800 mark. That is for the device alone. Adding a pen and basic keyboard cover can you take over the $1,000 threshold.

The new Surface Pro is part of Microsoft’s growing array of PC products running alongside the Surface Book and Surface Laptop

Overall the device is hard to beat. Few rise to the level of the Surface. Though modestly updated by most standards it still dominates the pool when it comes to a high-powered Windows two-in-one machine.

Based on some key upgrades and longer battery life, fans of the Surface Pro series could find the new device well worth the plunge.

By Aaron Oliver

Over the past year cyber security has been thrust to the forefront of cyber related news as there have been several worldwide attacks in the form of malware and ransomware. Most recently the “WannaCry” outbreak that paralyzed thousands of companies’ systems was talked about by every news organization on the planet. But there is another very common cyber threat that you don’t hear about as often, it is responsible for millions of systems being compromised and is often how some of these global events get started. It’s called “Social Engineering”.

Social engineering can take many forms and can be employed in several different ways. An attacker may call and pretend they are with your IT team and ask for information or for remote access to your employees’ systems. Once they gain access to a system attackers can deploy programs that will allow them to log back in later for more investigation into how the network is setup or do malicious things. Another way attackers use social engineering is by targeting email addresses of people in the company at different levels.  Attackers pretend their email is from a legitimate vendor, partner, or other trusted entity such as Microsoft. These emails will often have attachments which when opened will launch malicious code that will deploy malware or another type of malicious program to a user’s system. 

For social engineering to be effective and have your users take the bait, attackers will likely learn as much about your company as they can from public sources so their rouse can be believable at a first glance whether that be on the phone, email, or even in person! There are hundreds of ways attackers can target your company and get information, but there’s a low hanging fruit an attacker will use first: your website.

Your website is one of the first things an attacker is going to scour for information on where/how to attack your company. A lot of companies feel the need to introduce their upper management, boards of directors, or directors of individual departments on their website. This is a treasure to a would-be attacker. Some companies go a bit further and list the direct phone line and the email addresses of these individuals. In other cases, companies will list their entire employee directory on their websites, and that is just asking for trouble.

We understand the need or the want to offer transparency to your clients or potential clients, but you must weigh the security risks.  When an attacker searches the entire site – or crawls – your company website, and they see the IT director’s name, or the director of finance or accounting, it arms them with names of people within the organization to use in their rouse. That attacker could then call anyone in the company and say they are an IT technician working for “IT director’s name” and are installing new software on the computers of everyone in the accounting/finance departments at the request of “accounting director’s name”.  Once they establish a bit of trust with the targeted employee they can get a remote session and do almost anything within the network. Another tactic is an attacker will send out an email posing as one of these directors to get everyone in a company to open it, or pose as a vendor or partner listed on the company’s website to get someone to click an attachment.  Once again, game over and the attacker has access.

These types of attacks are happening every day all over the world.  Removing names and email addresses from your company website may prevent an attacker from having all the information they need to start an attack. While this is not going to stop all attacks, it will certainly make a would-be attacker work a little harder to obtain this information.  It is also important to educate all the employees on the proper way to respond to inquiries from their IT staff or support personal and to know the different ways in which their support staff would be contacting them. With proper training, employees will not allow just anyone to log into their system. 

Aaron Oliver is a Senior Network Engineer at ThrottleNet

Managed services outsourcing companies take on a lot of responsibility when serving small businesses. It’s no surprise given how important the role of a managed service provider (MSP) is in managing such vital parts of an organization that SMB owners are sometimes hesitant to begin a partnership with an MSP, for fear that they may be losing control of their business.

That’s far from the case.

The truth is, outsourcing certain services like IT can relieve the pressure off of SMBs. It makes sense that a dedicated provider would have the resources to aid businesses who otherwise are unable to recruit, train, pay, and monitor the work of their IT team to partner with an MSP.

Below are three big benefits of using a managed service provider every small business owner should consider when hiring or reconsidering their approach to IT:

They Possess Broad Expertise

One of the biggest benefits of using an MSP is that it gives businesses access to professionals who are well-versed in a wide variety of IT activities. An MSP is a network administrator, security consultant, and disaster recovery expert in one complete package. Most IT professionals today specialize in one area of the field, and may not be well-versed in all things IT. They may know how to run a network and answer basic help desk questions but if something goes wrong, well, good luck.  Outsourcing IT to an MSP ensures every problem can be addressed.

By George Rosenthal

New products are on their way from Apple. The tech firm made it clear they have lots of items in their pipeline at their WWDC Conference this month.

First off is the company’s answer to Amazon’s Echo and Google’s Home called the HomePod. It is a seven inch device that will integrate Siri into an Echo/Home like case. You can use it to check the news, weather and control your smart home devices.

HomePod will offer an enhanced music experience. A feature called “Musicologist” will work with Apple music and stream the songs you request from Siri. The sound is designed to fill the room and take it to a level beyond what Amazon and Google are offering.

The device will be available in black or white. Price is around $349. The launch date is anticipated in December just in time for the holiday season.

Need a new desktop? Apple is updating its iMac with improved retina displays, a boost in graphics, Kaby Lake processors and a USB-C plug in.

An iMac Pro is also on the way. This high end machine has a 5K display with improved cooling capacity, and 8-core Xeon processor which is upgradeable up to 18-core.  It also includes up to 4TB of SSD, up to 128GB of ECC memory, four Thunderbolt 3 ports, and built-in 10GB Ethernet.

Pricing is what you would expect from Apple. The new iMac starts at $1,099 for the 21.5-inch model, and $1,299 for the 4K model. MacBook Pro starts at $1,299, which includes the updated Kaby Lake processor. For those with deep pockets the iMac Pro with the Xeon processor starts at a whopping $4,999. Again a December shipping date in expected.

Speaking of “Pros” how about a new iPad Pro? The device will be available in three sizes including a brand new 10.5 inch model. Similar to the iPhone 7 it comes with a 12-megapixel camera and a 7MP selfie cam.

The iPad Pro supports USB 3.0 with 10 hours of battery life. A new feature called ProMotion reduces the Apple Pencil’s latency to 20 milliseconds. It adjusts the refresh rate based on what you are watching and can double it up to 120Hz. The 10.5 inch iPad Pro starts with a 64GB configuration. Pricing begins at $649. You can pick one up now.

Also of note is Apple’s new operating system, iOS11. It is in beta stage and has been released to developers. One area it will improve is multitasking on the iPad. Users will be able to pull up an app from the dock and drag it onto the screen in split-screen version. Like a MacBook you can use touch to hold and drag folders, files or photos. You can even drop them in a different app such as Mail or iMessage. The Apple Pencil will also enable handwritten text to be searchable from the Notes app.

The Apple Watch is also getting a “face lift”. New faces will display new bits of information such as Siri reminders. A Fitness Focus update provides NFC-enabled data sharing with gym equipment. Pair the two and you get the latest calorie burn and activity level.

Apple is letting developers know their tree is full of interesting new products and upgrades. It will be interesting to watch how the public responds in this latest round of Apple picking.

Business hardware is a significant investment, but technology evolves & business needs change to keep pace. Because of this, every business should be mindful of an upcoming PC replacement cycle – whether that occurs because of performance, time or a hardware emergency.

By Aaron Oliver

So last month I touched on the fact that having your employee rosters and contact info on your website can be a treasure for someone looking to social engineer their way into your companies network. I had some feedback asking for ways to mitigate this risk if the information had already been out there. Well there are probably a few things that every company should be doing to help educate their employees to protect against these Social Engineering and Phishing attacks. The easiest way to protect your organization whether you have an internal IT staff or an outsourced managed services provider, is to educate your users on who does the IT support for your organization.

If you’re using an internal IT staff, your users should be aware of the names of the IT staff, as well as the extensions and phones numbers that these support personnel would be calling from. Your employees should also know how their IT support team connects to their systems for remote support. If the users in your organization know that your IT support uses the Logmein tool, it should be a red flag if someone posing as IT support calls and tries to get a remote session in some other way like Teamviewer, or some other third party tool!

For those companies using an outsourced managed service provider. You may not always be able to inform your employees of all the names of the technicians at your provider, but they should be aware of all of the different ways to reach out for support as well as the remote connection tools that are used by your provider. Most providers should have their tools installed and should not need to have you create a connection for them. If they don’t have anything installed, then users should at least be aware of the tools your provider uses when they initiate a remote session so they are not fooled by someone using social engineering techniques to get access to their computer and your network.

What it all comes down to is employee education! Employees need to be more aware of how their support staff interacts with them during a support incident. Not only should they be aware, but continually reminded to ensure that they keep the approved methods of support fresh in their minds as it may not be something they use every day. Look at sending out a monthly or quarterly IT support overview to all your employees as a way to continually remind them to be on the lookout for suspicious activity. The more aware you users are made the better the chances that your organization’s network is not made an easy target for someone wanting to breach your company for any reason.

Aaron Oliver is a Senior Engineer at ThrottleNet