Many organizations rely solely on Windows account privileges to protect their networks. A recent security post revealed that attackers can gain control of your network by remotely modifying these privileges. This post reveals a new hack—called the ‘hot potato’—used to easily gain Administrative privileges and access to corporate networks.
How the heck can people get into your system? Well, this new ‘hot potato’ Windows hack makes it as easy as 1-2-3 for hackers to get into most corporate networks.
- Ask the network for its IP address
- Fake server proxy settings
- Authenticate a user’s credentials
To boil it down, the hackers gain access to a Windows machine and then increases their security privileges to the highest level on the machine. Then they take control of your network and start destroying your information…
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January 13, 2015. That was the date a year ago today when Microsoft terminated
its mainstream support for Windows Server 2008.
Here is the link to Microsoft’s official support schedule for Windows Server 2008.
Generally, Microsoft promises 10 years of support for business and enterprise software. This support period is split up into two periods: Mainstream Support and Extended Support.
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Do you ever wonder why businesses—credit unions, accountants, healthcare facilities—keep falling victim to malicious ransomware attacks? The reason is they simply aren’t doing enough to keep criminals out. 9 out of 10 businesses fail to have a ‘smart firewall’ to protect your team from infecting your networks with malicious viruses (think cryptowall, for example).
And even if you are training your team, what happens when someone ACCIDENTALLY clicks on a bad link or lands on the wrong webpage? Why not proactively protect your team from malicious attacks rather than solely relying on employee training to keep your business, your data and your customers safe?
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With the Holidays right around the corner, we asked our staff to share some of their gift ideas for this holiday season. Here is what the DynEdgers came up with!
Do you ever wish you had your own private beverage cooler/heater right on your desk? Well now you can! Anthony points out the USB Thermoelectric Cooler & Warmer as a great gift idea. It’s perfect for single cans, and it’s powered by your computer!
Price: $19.99
~ Anthony Castro
With the new Star Wars movie coming out, why not get into the mood with some Star Wars Death Star Measuring Cups? With this gift recommendation from Ben, you can feel the power of the Dark Side while you bake!
Price: $14.99
~ Ben Tidswell
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It’s hard to know who to trust nowadays. And what’s harder, is understanding the consequences of trusting the wrong person. As we are entering the holiday season, I thought it fit to alert you to a few common schemes and scams that cyber criminals use especially during the holidays. Here are six common scams that can compromise your business during the holiday season.
- Ad Poisoning—cybercriminals continue to fool ad agencies that they are legitimate advertisers. Criminals poison the ad pool by linking to nefarious websites that then can easily install malware and viruses on your network. This is a common delivery system ransomware viruses, like CryptoWall.
Solution—Here are a few things I recommend you doing to help keep the bad guys out of your holiday cyber shopping:
Disable Adobe Flash on your computer—or if you are a video fiend, set the Adobe Flash plugin to “click-to-play” mode to block automatic infections.
Keep up-to-date with all security on your operating system.
Download and install an Ad Blocker that blocks pop-ups from displaying in your blocker automatically.
If you have a network and are worried about vulnerabilities from team members, you can get rid of Flash altogether or deploy blockers using a group policy.
CryptoWall 4.0 is now the latest version of malicious ransomware that will encrypt your files and hold them hostage. This new strain of virus is ‘bigger and badder’ than the last ones. It not only encrypts your files, but also your file names. If you attempt decryption, you have no idea where to start or what is most important!
CryptoWall continues to use similar versions of emails it had used in the past. Some recent emails include attached resumes, invoices, shipping information and payments. If you notice emails of this variety passing through your inbox (and don’t expect them), please do NOT open them! Avoid clicking on links from emails or attachments. These emails may even appear to be from people you know! Before you click on something that you hadn’t expected, verify that it is something you can safely open.
If you fall victim to this ransomware, we have few solutions to get your data back- and we cannot guarantee that paying a ransom will actually restore your files to their previous state—we can’t trust these criminals!
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