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10 tips for spotting a phishing email

Phishing emails flow into inboxes year-round, especially during the holidays. Here are some clues to help your users spot “fishy” emails.

Every day countless phishing emails are sent to unsuspecting victims all over the world. While some of these messages are so outlandish that they are obvious frauds, others can be a bit more convincing. So how do you tell the difference between a phishing message and a legitimate message? Unfortunately, there is no one single technique that works in every situation, but there are a number of things that you can look for. This article lists 10 of them. phishing email

1: The message contains a mismatched URL

One of the first things I recommend checking in a suspicious email message is the integrity of any embedded URLs. Oftentimes the URL in a phishing message will appear to be perfectly valid. However, if you hover your mouse over the top of the URL, you should see the actual hyperlinked address (at least in Outlook). If the hyperlinked address is different from the address that is displayed, the message is probably fraudulent or malicious.

2: URLs contain a misleading domain name

People who launch phishing scams often depend on their victims not knowing how the DNS naming structure for domains works. The last part of a domain name is the most telling. For example, the domain name info.brienposey.com would be a child domain of brienposey.com because brienposey.com appears at the end of the full domain name (on the right-hand side). Conversely, brienposey.com.maliciousdomain.com would clearly not have originated from brienposey.com because the reference to brienposey.com is on the left side of the domain name.

3: The message contains poor spelling and grammar

Whenever a large company sends out a message on behalf of the company as a whole, the message is usually reviewed for spelling, grammar, and legality, among other things. So if a message is filled with poor grammar or spelling mistakes, it probably didn’t come from a major corporation’s legal department.

4: The message asks for personal information

No matter how official an email message might look, it’s always a bad sign if the message asks for personal information. Your bank doesn’t need you to send it your account number. It already knows what that is. Similarly, a reputable company should never send an email asking for your password, credit card number, or the answer to a security question.

5: The offer seems too good to be true

There is an old saying that if something seems too good to be true, it probably is. That holds especially true for email messages. If you receive a message from someone unknown to you who is making big promises, the message is probably a scam.

6: You didn’t initiate the action

If you get a message informing you that you have won a contest you did not enter, you can bet that the message is a scam.

7: You’re asked to send money to cover expenses

One telltale sign of a phishing email is that you will eventually be asked for money. You might not get hit up for cash in the initial message. But sooner or later, phishing artists will likely ask for money to cover expenses, taxes, fees, or something similar. If that happens, you can bet that it’s a scam.

8: The message makes unrealistic threats

Although most of the phishing scams try to trick people into giving up cash or sensitive information by promising instant riches, some phishing artists use intimidation to scare victims into giving up information. If a message makes unrealistic threats, it’s probably a scam.

9: The message appears to be from a government agency

Phishing artists who want to use intimidation don’t always pose as a bank. Sometimes they’ll send messages claiming to have come from a law enforcement agency, the IRS, the FBI, or just about any other entity that might scare the average law-abiding citizen. But here, government agencies don’t normally use email as an initial point of contact. That isn’t to say that law enforcement and other government agencies don’t use email. However, law enforcement agencies follow certain protocols. They don’t engage in email-based extortion—at least, not in my experience.

10: Something just doesn’t look right

In Las Vegas, casino security teams are taught to look for anything that JDLR—just doesn’t look right, as they call it. The idea is that if something looks off, there’s probably a good reason why. This same principle almost always applies to email messages. If you receive a message that seems suspicious, it’s usually in your best interest to avoid acting on the message.

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The 18 scariest computer viruses of all time

Anna Kournikova (2001)

The Anna Kournikova virus is so named because it tricked its recipients into thinking they were downloading a sexy picture of the tennis star. Financial damages associated with Kournikova were limited, but the virus had a big pop culture impact: It became a plot point in a 2002 episode of the sitcom Friends.

Sasser (2004)

In April 2004, Microsoft issued a patch for a vulnerability in Windows’ Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS). Shortly after, a teenager in Germany released the Sasser worm to exploit the vulnerability in unpatched machines. Multiple variants of Sasser took out airline, public transportation, and hospital networks, causing $18 billion in damage.

Skulls.A (2004)

The Skulls.A is a legitimately spooky mobile trojan that affected the Nokia 7610 smartphone and other SymbOS devices. The malware was designed to change all icons on infected phones to Jolly Rogers and disable all phone functions, save for making and receiving calls.

F-Secure says Skulls.A caused little damage, but the trojan is undeniably creepy.

Zeus (2009)

While many malware programs on this list are little more than nuisances, Zeus (AKA Zbot) was a tool used by a complex criminal enterprise.

The trojan uses phishing and keylogging to steal online banking credentials, draining a cumulative $70 million from the accounts of its victims.

Melissa (1999)

Named after a Florida stripper, the Melissa virus was designed to propagate by sending itself to the first 50 contacts in its victims’ e-mail Outlook address book. The attack was so successful that the virus infected 20 percent of the world’s computers, causing an estimated $80 million in damage.

Virus creator David L. Smith (shown) was caught by the FBI, served 20 months in jail, and paid a $5,000 fine.

Sircam (2001)

Like many early malware scripts, Sircam used social engineering to trick people into opening an email attachment.

The worm chooses a random Microsoft Office file on victims’ computers, infects it, and sends it to all the people in the victims’ email contact list. A University of Florida study pegged Sircam cleanup costs at $3 billion.

Stuxnet (2009)

Stuxnet is one of the first known viruses created for cyberwarfare. Created in a joint effort between Israel and the U.S., Stuxnet targeted nuclear enrichment systems in Iran.

Infected computers instructed nuclear centrifuges to physically spin until they broke, all while providing fake feedback that operations were normal.

SQL Slammer/Sapphire (2003)

Taking up just 376 bytes, the SQL Slammer worm packed a lot of destruction into a tiny package. The worm slowed down the Internet, disabled 911 call centers, took down 12,000 Bank of America ATMs, and caused much of South Korea to go offline. It also crashed the network at Ohio’s Davis-Besse nuclear power plant.

Storm Trojan (2007)

Storm Trojan is a particularly sinister piece of email-distributed malware that accounted for 8 percent of all global infections just three days after its January 2007 launch.

The trojan created a massive botnet of between 1 and 10 million computers, and because it was designed to change its packing code every 10 minutes, Storm Trojan proved incredibly resilient.

Code Red (2001)

The Code Red worm, named after the Mountain Dew flavor preferred by its creators, infected up to one-third of all Microsoft ISS web servers upon release.

It even took down whitehouse.gov, replacing its homepage with a “Hacked by Chinese!” message. Estimated damages due to Code Red were in the billions of dollars worldwide.

Nimda (2001)

Released just after the 9/11 attack, many thought the devastating Nimda worm had an Al Qaeda connection (never proven).

It spread via multiple vectors, bringing down banking networks, federal courts and other key computer systems. Cleanup costs for Nimda exceeded $500 million in the first few days alone.

ILOVEYOU (2000)

The ILOVEYOU worm, AKA Love Letter, disguised itself in email inboxes as a text file from an admirer.

But this Love Letter was anything but sweet: In May 2000, it quickly spread to 10 percent of all Internet-connected computers, leading the CIA to shut down its own email servers to prevent its further spread. Estimated damages were $15 billion.

Cryptolocker (2014)

Computers infected with Cryptolocker have important files on their hard drives encrypted and held at ransom. Those who pay approximately $300 in bitcoin to the hackers are given access to the encryption key; those who fail to pay have their data deleted forever.

Netsky (2004)

The Netsky worm, created by the same teen who made Sasser, made its way around the world by way of email attachments. The P variant of Netsky was the most widespread worm in the world even more than two years after its February 2004 launch.

Conficker (2008)

The Conficker worm (AKA Downup, Downadup, Kido), first detected in December 2008, was designed to disable infected computers’ anti-virus programs and block autoupdates that may otherwise remove it from computers.

Conficker quickly spread to numerous important computer networks, including those of the English, French, and German armed forces, causing $9 billion in damage.

Michaelangelo (1992)

The Michelangelo virus itself spread to relatively few computers and caused little real damage. But the concept of a computer virus set to “detonate” on March 6, 1992 caused a media-fueled mass hysteria, with many afraid to operate their PCs even on anniversaries of the date.

Sobig.F (2003)

The Sobig.F trojan infected an estimated 2 million PCs in 2003, grounding Air Canada flights and causing slowdowns across computer networks worldwide. This tricky bug-in-disguise cost $37.1 billion to clean up, making it one of the most expensive malware recovery efforts in history.

MyDoom (2004)

In September 2004, TechRepublic called MyDoom “the worst virus outbreak ever,” and it’s no surprise why. The worm increased the average page load time on the Internet by 50 percent, blocked infected computers’ access to anti-virus sites, and launched a denial-of-service attack on computing giant Microsoft.

The worldwide costs associated with cleanup of MyDoom is estimated to be just shy of $40 billion.

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Microsoft Snip brings Windows screenshots to life with voice and ink

Microsoft released a free app for capturing, annotating, and explaining screenshots.

Snip

In late August 2015, Microsoft released a free screen capture and annotation application called Snip (Figure A). But the twist in the story is the fact that Snip is not part of some master strategic plan.

Figure A

Snip

While the name is a bit confusing, Snip is not the same thing as the improved Snipping Tool that comes free with Windows 10. The Snipping Tool will capture screenshots, but it does not have any annotation features.

Snip, on the other hand, is a free tool developed through a Microsoft Garage project that allows users to capture screenshots and then annotate them (Figure B). With the Snip app, users can draw on their captured screenshots using a software pen, which is available in various colors and sizes.

Figure B

Snip

Snip can also record the annotation, and your vocal description of it, to create a short video that users can share as a URL or as an MP4 video (Figure C). These features make Snip very useful for creating and sharing short instructional videos.

Figure C

Cultural shift

The important thing to note about Snip is the way it was developed and released. Under the Garage program, Microsoft employees are encouraged to work on projects outside of their official duties. The idea is to create an environment where employees can experiment, innovate, and exercise their creativity.

Releasing an app like Snip in beta form to the general public indicates a shift in attitude when it comes to app development at Microsoft. Snip has been released without worrying about whether it will generate a revenue stream or ever make a profit. As far as I can tell, there are no expectations regarding Snip and how it fits into the overall corporate strategy.

Snip is just a nice little program that Microsoft thinks people will find useful, and they’d appreciate some feedback on how to make it even better. No promises, no expectations, no quid pro quo. Microsoft is trying hard not to be the stodgy old software company anymore.

Snip also fits in well with Microsoft’s major theme for Office 365, which postulates that a modern productive workforce needs better collaboration tools. When you consider recent app releases like Edge, Sway, and now Snip, you can begin to see where Microsoft is heading.

If you need to communicate an idea in a simple but effective way, Microsoft is saying it has the tool you seek. It would not be a surprise if Snip become an integrated part of Office 365 in the near future.

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Top 10 Windows Keyboard Shortcuts

Takeaway: Top 10 most useful Windows 7 and Windows 8 keyboard shortcuts.

Windows 7

Windows 8

Download the 100 Windows Keyboard Shortcuts, click here.

IBM Watson is coming to the iPhone, and that’s big news for business users

Last Tuesday, IBM announced it will be combining its enterprise iOS mobile apps with IBM Watson for better decision-making and productivity.

watson

IBM Watson may be coming soon to an enterprise iOS app near you, the company announced at the IBM World of Watson 2016 event on October 25. In a first-of-its-kind move, IBM MobileFirst for iOS apps can now integrate Watson technology to enhance decision-making, productivity, and the employee experience.

With Watson’s cognitive and conversational capabilities, these enterprise apps will be able to understand, reason, and learn using data analytics, according to a press release.

“Apple and IBM set out more than two years ago to define the enterprise mobility market, ensuring that professionals could finally enjoy at work the same experience they’d come to expect as consumers,” said Mahmoud Naghshineh, general manager, Apple partnership at IBM, in a press release. “We are taking that to a whole new level by combining the power of Watson with the new speech framework of iOS 10. The combinations and possibilities are virtually endless.”

Watson is available for both IBM MobileFirst for iOS apps, as well as custom-built iOS apps from IBM, and will allow business users to integrate APIs based on their needs. Users will also have the ability to control apps with speech. This feature could be especially helpful for positions such as field technicians, who can verbally interact with an app like Find & Fix—inputting schedule changes, notifying dispatch, asking questions and tapping Watson’s knowledge reserves—while repairing equipment, according to the release.

“IBM Natural Language Processing, Watson Conversation and other Watson APIs have been optimized to work with the new iOS 10 speech framework,” the press release stated. “The combination of Watson, iOS and IBM services allows the apps to support conversational interaction, bringing deep insight to the end user so they can make more informed decisions.”

The new capabilities will be delivered through IBM Cloud for easy integration into apps, even those that are already in use in a business, the release stated.

IBM offered the following examples of how enterprises might use apps integrated with Watson:

Flight attendants using the Passenger+ app enhanced with Watson can gain a deeper view into a traveler’s personality to deliver more personal and relevant customer care while inflight. For example, if the app reveals a passenger is a strong brand advocate with a strong social footprint, the airline may choose to prioritize his or her requests.
Retail sales associates using Sales Assist can access data across different resources—social media, customer databases and product forums—for deeper insights into a customer’s unique preferences as well as the latest purchasing trends and popular products to assist customers in choosing the right item.
Financial advisors using Trusted Advice with deep learning technology from Watson gain highly targeted search and trend analysis into market history and happenings to optimize the investment recommendations made to individual clients.

“This is a digital assistant for the business—one that creates the next-generation professional experience tailored for enterprise processes,” Naghshineh said in the press release.

The partnership with Watson furthers Apple’s recent moves to increase business appeal. In recent years, Apple has inked deals with IBM, Cisco, SAP, and Deloitte to integrate iOS devices into the enterprise.

IBM is perhaps Apple’s highest-profile corporate partner, representing the world’s largest enterprise Mac deployment, with over 90,000 Macs currently used by workers. The company recently reported that it is rolling out Macs to employees at a rate of 1,300 per week—putting it on track to cross the 100,000 machine mark by the end of the year, as Jason Hiner reported.

The IBM Watson iOS integration also demonstrates how important cognitive computing and AI will be to the future of mobile, with the rise of specialized AI assistants in a variety of industries, and the release of the Google Pixel phone, enabled with Google Assistant.

The 3 big takeaways for readers

IBM Watson will now power enterprise iOS apps with its cognitive and speech capabilities, the company announced at the IBM World of Watson event on Tuesday.
Tapping Watson’s information reserves and language capabilities could help professionals in a variety of fields increase productivity and decision-making, the company stated.
Integrating Watson into enterprise iOS apps is another move by Apple to increase its business use, following previous app partnerships with IBM, Cisco, SAP, and Deloitte.

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Use Windows 7 Event Viewer to track down issues that cause slower boot times

Here’s how to use some of the new features in Windows 7’s Event Viewer to investigate a slow boot time.

Overview

Windows 7’s Event Viewer includes a new category of event logs called Applications and Services Logs, which includes a whole host of subcategories that track key elements of the operating system. The majority of these subcategories contain an event log type called Operational that is designed to track events that can be used for analyzing and diagnosing problems. (Other event log types that can be found in these subcategories are Admin, Analytic, and Debug; however, describing them is beyond the scope of this article.)

Now, within the operating system section is a subcategory titled Diagnostic-Performance with an Operational log that contains a set of a Task Category called Boot Performance Monitoring. The Event IDs in this category are 100 through 110. By investigating all the Event ID 100 events, you will be able to find out exactly how long it took to boot up your system every time since the day you installed Windows 7. By investigating all the Event ID 101 thru 110 events, you will be able to identify all instances where boot time slowed down.

Getting started

You can find and launch Event Viewer by opening the Control Panel, accessing the System and Security category, selecting the Administrative Tools item, and double-clicking the Event Viewer icon. However, you can also simply click the Start button, type Event in the Start Search box, and press Enter once Event Viewer appears and the top of the results display.

Creating a Custom View

Once you have Event Viewer up and running, you can, of course, drill down through the Applications and Services Logs and locate the Diagnostic-Performance Operational log and begin manually looking through the events recorded in the log. However, you can save yourself time and energy by taking advantage of the new Custom View feature, which is essentially a filter that you can create and save.

To do so, pull down the Action menu and select the Create Custom View command. When you see the Create Custom View dialog box, leave the Logged option set at the default value of Any Time and select all the Event level check boxes. Next, select the By Log option button, if it is not already selected, and click the dropdown arrow. Then, drill down through the tree following the path: Applications and Services Logs | Microsoft | Windows | Diagnostics-Performance. When you open the Diagnostics-Performance branch, select the Operational check box, as shown in Figure A.

Figure A

When you get to the Diagnostics-Performance branch, select the Operational check box.

To continue, type 100 in the Includes/Excludes Event IDs box, as shown in Figure B, and then click OK.

Figure B

Event ID 100 records how long it takes to boot up your system.

When you see the Save Filter to Custom View dialog box, enter a name, as shown in Figure C, and click OK.

Figure C

To save the filter as a Custom View, simply provide an appropriate name, such as Boot Time.

You’ll now repeat these steps and create another Custom View, and this time, you’ll type 101-110 in the Includes/Excludes Event IDs box and name it Boot Degradation.

Investigating Boot Time

To investigate your Windows 7 system’s boot time, select Boot Time in the Custom Views tree and then sort the Date and Time column in ascending order. When you do, you’ll see a complete history of every time you have booted your system since the day you installed Windows 7. In Figure D, you can see that we have hidden the Console Tree and the Action Pane to focus on the events.

Figure D

By sorting the Date and Time column in ascending order, you’ll see a complete history of every time you have booted your system since the day you installed Windows 7.

As you can see, the first recorded Boot Time on my sample system was 67479 milliseconds in October 2009. Dividing by 1,000 tells me that it took around 67 seconds to boot up. Of course, this was the first time, and a lot was going on right after installation. For example, drivers were being installed, startup programs were being initialized, and the SuperFetch cache was being built. By December 2009 the average boot time was around 37 seconds.

In any case, by using the Boot Time Custom View, you can scroll through every boot time recorded on your system. Of course, keep in mind that there will be normal occurrences that may lengthen the boot time, such as when updates, drivers, and software is installed.

Now, if you click the Details tab, you’ll see the entire boot process broken down in an incredible amount of detail, as shown in Figure E. (You can find more information about the boot process in the “Windows On/Off Transition Performance Analysis” white paper.) However, for the purposes of tracking the boot time, we can focus on just three of the values listed on the Details tab.

Figure E

The Details tab contains an incredible amount of detail on the boot time.

MainPathBootTime

MainPathBootTime represents the amount of time that elapses between the time the animated Windows logo first appears on the screen and the time that the desktop appears. Keep in mind that even though the system is usable at this point, Windows is still working in the background loading low-priority tasks.

BootPostBootTime

BootPostBootTime represents the amount of time that elapses between the time that the desktop appears and the time that you can actually begin using the system.

BootTime

Of course, BootTime is the same value that on the General tab is called Boot Duration. This number is the sum of MainPathBootTime and BootPostBootTime. Something that we didn’t tell you before is that Microsoft indicates that your actual boot time is about 10 seconds less that the recorded BootTime. The reason is that it usually takes about 10 seconds for the system to reach an 80-percent idle measurement at which time the BootPostBootTime measurement is recorded.

Investigating Boot Degradation

To investigate instances that cause Windows 7 system’s boot time to slow down, select Boot Degradation in the Custom Views tree and then sort Event ID column in ascending order. Each Event ID, 101 through 110, represents a different type of situation that causes degradation of the boot time.

While there are ten different Event IDs here, not all of them occur on all systems and under all circumstances. As such, I’ll focus on the most common ones that we have encountered and explain some possible solutions.

Event ID 101

Event ID 101 indicates that an application took longer than usual to start up. This is typically the result of an update of some sort. As you can see in Figure F, the AVG Resident Shield Service took longer than usual to start up right after an update to the virus database. If you look at the details, you can see that it took about 15 seconds for the application to load (Total Time), and that is about 9 seconds longer than it normally takes (Degradation Time).

Figure F

Event ID 101 indicates that an application took longer than usual to start up.

An occasional degradation is pretty normal; however, if you find that a particular application is being reported on a regular basis or has a large degradation time, chances are that there is a problem of some sort. As such, you may want to look for an updated version, uninstall and reinstall the application, uninstall and stop using the application, or maybe find an alternative.

(In the case of my friend’s Windows 7 system, there were several applications that were identified by Event ID 101 as the cause of his system slowdown. Uninstalling them was the solution, and he is currently seeking alternatives.)

Event ID 102

Event ID 102 indicates that a driver took longer to initialize. Again, this could be the result of an update. However, if it occurs regularly for a certain driver or has a large degradation time, you should definitely look in to a newer version of the driver. If a new version is not available, you should uninstall and reinstall the driver.

Event ID 103

Event ID 103 indicates that a service took longer than expected to start up, as shown in Figure G.

Figure G

Event ID 103 indicates that a service took longer than expected to start up.

Services can occasionally take longer to start up, but they shouldn’t do so on a regular basis. If you encounter a service that is regularly having problems, you can go to the Services tool and experiment with changing the Startup type to Automatic (Delayed Start) or Manual.

Event ID 106

Event ID 106 indicates that a background optimization operation took longer to complete. On all the Windows 7 systems that we investigated, this event identified the BackgroundPrefetchTime as the culprit, as shown in Figure H. Since the Prefetch cache is a work in progress, this should not really represent a problem.

Figure H

Event ID 106 indicates that a background optimization operation took longer to complete.

If you encounter regular or long degradation times related to Prefetch, you may want to investigate clearing this cache and allowing the operating system to rebuild it from scratch. However bear in mind that doing so can be tricky and instructions on doing so are beyond the scope of this article.

Event ID 109

Event ID 109 indicates that a device took longer to initialize. Again, if this is happening occasionally, there shouldn’t be anything to worry about. But if it is occurring regularly, you should make sure that you regularly back up your hard disk and begin investigating replacing the device in question.

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Modifying the Windows 7 boot loader with the Boot Configuration Data Editor tool

In Windows Vista and later versions of Windows, the bootloader was moved from boot.ini to a utility called BCDEdit. Here’s how to modify the boot config data with the new tool.

Sometimes dual-booting a system is a handy way to test new software, a new operating system, or an application that needs to be run in a specific version of Windows. Other reasons to dual-boot might include replication of a client environment.

Windows handles dual-booting by using boot.ini to display a menu of bootable choices or partitions found on the current system. In Windows Vista and later versions of Windows, the bootloader was moved from boot.ini to a utility called BCDEdit.

Recently, we decided we could make better use of some disk space that we had set aside to create a bootable VHD for Windows Server 2008 R2. There was no data other than the OS installation contained within the file because we had used it only to prepare a blog post about booting from Virtual Hard Disks. To free up the space, we deleted the VHD.

Note: Always make sure to back up any data that you want to keep before deleting or modifying partitions on VHDs. Your changes could make the partition unbootable.

Once we had the VHD removed, we thought Windows would be smart enough to clean up the boot loader, but we were not so lucky. We had Windows 7 set as the primary OS, so we were not without a system.

We started looking around for boot.ini and was directed toward the Boot Configuration Data Editor (BCDEdit) as the utility to use when editing boot loader information in Windows 7 (and in Vista too).

To begin, open the Start menu, select All Programs, and then choose Accessories. Right-click on Command Prompt and select Run As Administrator. Once in the command window, type bcdedit. This will return the current running configuration of your boot loader, showing any and all items that can boot on this system.

In this example, we decided to remove the entry for my Windows 2008 R2 installation, as we wouldn’t need it for the time being. To remove an entry, you will need to know the Boot Loader Identifier (found in curly braces in Figure A).

Figure A

we copied the whole list into Notepad and then selected and copied just the ID, braces included.

Removing an entry from the Boot Loader

One simple command got the Windows Server 2008 R2 entry out of the boot loader. At the command prompt, enter the following:

Bcdedit /delete {boot loader identifier}

Press Enter, and the Boot Configuration Data Editor (BCDEdit) will remove the entry for the ID you specified and display a message when finished. When Windows starts, the only choice available in the boot menu should be the current Windows installation.

Warning: Be careful when editing the boot configuration data. If you mistakenly remove the current instance of Windows, you may render your computer unbootable.

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Trump administration to move all federal IT into the cloud: Is it realistic?

US president Donald Trump recently signed an executive order on cyber-security that mandated federal systems move to the cloud. But, questions remain on the feasibility of that goal.

On Thursday, US President Donald Trump signed his long-awaited executive order on cyber-security, laying out his plans for addressing security in federal IT and across US infrastructure. The most ambitious mandate was that all federal IT systems move to the cloud.

President Trump’s homeland security adviser, Tom Bossert, said in a announcement that the government had spent too much time and money “protecting antiquated and outdated systems.” Bossert cited the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) hack as evidence of failing legacy systems.

Bossert said, “From this point forward, the President has issued a preference in federal procurement in federal IT for shared systems. We’ve got to move to the cloud and try to protect ourselves instead of fracturing our security posture.”

The executive order officially states: “Agency heads shall show preference in their procurement for shared IT services, to the extent permitted by law, including email, cloud, and cyber-security services.” It also calls for a report to be completed within 90 days describing the legal, budgetary, technical considerations for “shared IT services, including email, cloud, and cyber-security services,” along with a timeline for the initiatives and their potential cost-effectiveness.

Peter Tran, the senior director of worldwide advanced cyber defense practice at RSA and former US Department of Defense employee, said the anchor for the executive order will initially be the NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF), to both assess current risk gaps and determine a strategy moving forward. This will be the pacesetter by which all building blocks will either rise or fall specifically on the call to action to go cloud in an expedited manner…..security being a forethought,” Tran said.

However, the effectiveness of a move to the cloud to improve security among these federal systems remains up to debate. John Pironti, cyber-security expert and president of IP Architects, said that it could create a double-edged sword.

“The idea of standardization of security controls and capabilities through a cloud-only mandate in theory may make sense to establish an enhanced baseline for security, but at the same time creates a central target and common set of controls and capabilities that adversaries can then focus their attention on in order to be successful in their attacks,” Pironti said.

Following a central set of control standards and common technology platforms, combined with the centralized nature of the cloud, could actually make the federal IT systems weaker than their current iteration, Pironti said, which utilizes “distributed and varied computing assets and security controls.” And if hackers can find and exploit a weakness in this kind of system, it could lead to a bigger impact.

Pironti said that he believes the mandate will start out with the proper intentions, but if the affected government agencies simply follow the prescribed behaviors with no deviation, they may not be able to keep up with the changing threat landscape. While Pironti said that he’s in favor of accountability, he believes that the approach should be risk-based instead of mandated.

“I do not believe all agencies should be forced into a cloud model or required to follow the same set of prescriptive security controls,” Pironti said. “If an agency can prove that they are effectively operating in a reliable, available, and secure fashion then they should be allowed to continue to do so.”

Another question raised by the mandate is the feasibility of moving these systems to the cloud. Tran said that the executive order builds on an existing foundation, but the “proof is in the pudding.” The order, like other security plans, must be executed in a timely manner and show clear improvements in boosting security visibility and early threat detection, but it also must clearly show what “good” and “bad” security looks like in cloud infrastructure, Tran said.

“That’s really hard to do under an average planning and deployment timeline. Your compass needs to be ‘dead on,'” Tran said.

The impact of the executive order could also be seen in the private sector, Tran said, driving the growth of stronger policy, compliance, and governance around cybersecurity.

“The unique aspect of this current environment is security can’t effectively operate in a ‘de-regulated’ fashion by the mere nature that it’s security… Imagine if the TSA and FAA had no security protocols and structure?” Tran said. “Cybersecurity is no different whether it’s brick-and-mortar or click-and-mortar.”

The 3 big takeaways for readers

Trump recently signed an executive order on cybersecurity mandating all federal IT systems move to the cloud, but questions remain about the feasibility and effectiveness of such a mandate.
The move to the cloud could help modernize the systems’ approach to security, but it could also create a central point of attack for hackers, an expert said.
The executive order could also impact the private sector, leading to more regulation and compliance around cyber-security initiatives, an expert said.

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What did Microsoft get right in 2016?

2016 was a very good year for Microsoft in terms of decision making. Here is a list of five things the company got right.

Since its inception way back in the ancient epoch known as the 1970s, Microsoft has often been ridiculed for making mistakes. Whether it was for bad business strategies, poor products, or unscrupulous practices, Microsoft seemed to bring out the passionate ire in many people.

But what often gets overlooked is what Microsoft does right each year. And by just about any measurement, 2016 was a remarkable year for the company. Under the leadership of Satya Nadella, Microsoft has changed its business strategy to reflect what it describes as a mobile-first, cloud-first business world. And in 2016, that strategy began show results.

Here, in no particular order, are five things Microsoft got right in 2016.

1. Windows 10 Anniversary Update

To mark the one-year anniversary of Windows 10, Microsoft released a large patch it dubbed the Windows 10 Anniversary Update. Okay, so Microsoft is not very clever in naming things. But the patch itself was well received. It included new security measures, new program features, Microsoft Edge browser extensions, and advanced support for digital pens, among many other enhancements. If you were already using Windows 10, the Anniversary Update was a must.

2. Surface Studio

While not its primary business, Microsoft has been developing some noteworthy pieces of hardware the past few years and in 2016, the company generated a large amount of buzz with the release of the Surface Studio. This elegant computer combines the best of the desktop, laptop, and tablet to create a unique and innovative platform perfect for artists, designers, and other creative people. With data visualization becoming ever more important, Microsoft may have invented the perfect tool for the big data generation.

3. Microsoft Office 365

I have been wondering aloud if it is a bit too much, but there can be no doubt that with the dozens of program and feature updates released in 2016, Microsoft Office 365 is the alpha and omega of productivity software. Rather than trying to name all of the new features, it would be best to concentrate on the underlying theme: collaboration. Whether it is Yammer, Skype for Business, or the intelligent cloud, Microsoft is concentrating on features necessary for success in a collaborative environment.

4. LinkedIn

In 2016, Microsoft made several acquisitions of both companies and their technologies. Perhaps the most high-profile of these acquisitions was LinkedIn. Despite all of its efforts to create a collaboration platform with Office 365, the one thing Microsoft needed was a social networking component. LinkedIn gives the company a jump start toward establishing a social networking presence that can compete with the likes of Twitter and Facebook. It will be interesting to see what Microsoft does with this acquisition.

5. IoT, AI, and machine learning

While we may live in a mobile-first, cloud-first world right now, the future may very well revolve around the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence, and machine learning. To its credit, Microsoft sees the potential of these technologies and has taken steps to get ahead of the curve. In terms of recent history, getting ahead of the curve is not something Microsoft has done very well, so it is difficult to know where the research will lead, but it should prove to be worth watching closely.

Despite what some people may tell you, Microsoft does do some things right. In fact, for the most part, the company does more things right than it does wrong. In 2016, Microsoft did many things right and consumers and businesses have been the beneficiaries. Let’s hope Microsoft can continue the trend in 2017.

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Here’s how Microsoft will integrate LinkedIn into its products

Microsoft’s massive $26.2 billion acquisition of LinkedIn finally closed, and CEO Satya Nadella explained how the companies will begin working together.

Microsoft’s $26.2 billion purchase of professional networking site LinkedIn officially came to a close on Thursday, after the deal was approved by regulators. Following the close, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella penned a blog post on LinkedIn detailing how the website would begin integrating with Microsoft’s products.

For starters, LinkedIn identity and network capabilities will be coming to Microsoft Outlook, and to the Office suite in general, the post stated. Additionally, LinkedIn notifications will be available to users in the Windows action center as well.

Since LinkedIn is known as a digital CV of sorts, Microsoft will enable LinkedIn members who draft a résumé in Word to directly update their LinkedIn profile page, and more easily search for and apply to relevant job postings, the post said.

One of the potentially troubling integrations is “extending the reach of Sponsored Content across Microsoft properties,” as Nadella wrote on his blog. Whether that means that users will begin seeing ads in their Office apps remains to be seen, but it sets the stage for a potentially tricky user experience.

Enterprise LinkedIn Lookup will soon be powered by Active Directory and Office 365, which could make it easier for employees to connect with one another. Nadella’s blog post also noted that LinkedIn Learning will be made available across the Office 365 and Windows ecosystem, giving Microsoft shops access to new forms of training and continued learning that could prove valuable to their employees.

Additionally, Nadella wrote that the two companies would begin developing a business news desk across their existing ecosystem of content, and for MSN.com. Sales Navigator and Dynamics 365 will also be integrated in hopes of improving social selling capabilities.

Since the acquisition was first announced, it’s been fairly clear that data was the driving force behind the deal. The two companies had non-overlapping, complementary data graphs, and these integrations show just the first steps that Microsoft is taking to leverage LinkedIn’s data, along with its own, to build out a more holistic ecosystem of business technologies and services.

Current LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner will continue to lead the company after the acquisition, and theNew York Times reported that roughly 10,000 LinkedIn employees will join Microsoft.

The 3 big takeaways for readers

Microsoft closed its $26.2 billion acquisition of social networking site LinkedIn on Thursday, with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella outlining how the two companies will merge.
LinkedIn features and services will be coming to Outlook, Office 365, Dynamics 365, and even MSN.com, with LinkedIn search getting a boost from Active Directory.
The deal has always been about data, and the integrations are just the start of how the two companies will merge their individual data graphs.

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South Jersey Techies, LL C is a full Managed Web and Technology Services Company providing IT Services, Website Design Services, Server Support, Network Consulting, Internet Phones, Cloud Solutions Provider and much more. Contact for More Information.