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Microsoft announced Attack Simulator for Office 365 Threat Intelligence

 

Admins can send simulated phishing and attack emails to find security and training weaknesses.

A few weeks ago, Microsoft released a public preview for Attack Simulator for Office 365 Threat Intelligence. On April 17th Microsoft announced that Attack Simulator is now generally available. Attack Simulator for Office 365 Threat Intelligence is available to all Office 365 E5 or Office 365 Threat Intelligence customers.

With Attack Simulator, customers can launch simulated attacks on their end users, determine how end users behave in the event of an attack, and update policies and ensure that appropriate security tools are in place to protect the organization from threats.  The GA of Attack Simulator adds a new HTML editor so realistic looking HTML emails can be sent in simulations of spear-phishing.  Also, two spear-phishing templates are available for immediate use in the spear phishing simulation.

Attack Simulator includes the three attack scenarios from our public preview.

Display Name Spear Phishing Attack: Phishing is the generic term for socially engineered attacks designed to harvest credentials or personally identifiable information (PII). Spear phishing is a subset of this phishing and is more targeted, often aimed at a specific group, individual, or organization.  These attacks are customized and tend to leverage a sender name that generates trust with the recipient.

Password Spray Attack: To prevent bad actors from constantly guessing the passwords of user accounts, often there are account lockout policies.  For example, an account will lockout after a certain number of bad passwords are guessed for a user.  However, if you were to take a single password and try it against every single account in an organization, it would not trigger any lockouts.  The password spray attack leverages commonly used passwords and targets many accounts in an organization with the hope that one of the account holder uses a common password that allows a hacker to enter the account and take control of it.  From this compromised account, a hacker can launch more attacks by assuming the identity of account holder.

Brute Force Password Attack: This type of attack consists of a hacker trying many passwords or passphrases with the hope of eventually guessing correctly. The attacker systematically checks all possible passwords and passphrases until the correct one is found.

 

 

This video demonstrates how Attack Simulator can help organizations educate users to become more secure from cyber threats.  With Attack Simulator, admins can train all their end users, and especially those who are attacked most often.  This proactive training is a powerful way to ensure that your organization can prevent the impact from advanced threats.  Over the coming months, more threat simulations will be added to Attack Simulator so organizations can simulate the most prevalent threat types from the modern threat landscape.

Experience the benefits of Attack Simulator for Office 365 Threat Intelligence by beginning an Office 365 E5 trial today.  Also, learn more about how Microsoft leverages threat intelligence and the value of threat intelligence.

How to avoid ransomware attacks: 10 tips

As ransomware increasingly targets healthcare organizations, schools and government agencies, security experts offer advice to help IT leaders prepare and protect.

Nigerian princes are no longer the only menaces lurking in an employee’s inbox. For healthcare organizations, schools, government agencies and many businesses, ransomware attacks—an especially sinister type of malware delivered through spear phishing emails that locks up valuable data assets and demands a ransom to release them—are a rapidly-growing security threat.

“We’re currently seeing a massive explosion in innovation in the types of ransomware and the ways it’s getting into organizations,” says Rick McElroy, security strategist for cyber security company Carbon Black Enterprise Response. “It’s a big business, and the return on investment to attackers is there—it’s going to get worse.”

While ransomware has existed for years, 2015 saw a spike in activity. The FBI received 2,453 complaints, with losses of over $1.6 million, up from 1,402 complaints the year before, according to annual reports from the bureau’s Internet Crime Complaint Center. And the numbers are only growing in 2016, the FBIreports.

“The Dark Web and Bitcoin allow almost anyone to sell stolen data without identification—cyber criminals understand they can make easy cash without the risk of being jailed,” says Ilia Kolochenko, CEO of web security company High-Tech Bridge. And hackers—most of which are located in developing countries—are growing more sophisticated, even developing downloadable ransomware toolkits for less-experienced hackers to deploy, according to the 2016 Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology Ransomware Report.

“The days of grammatically incorrect, mass spam phishing attacks are pretty much over,” says James Scott, senior fellow and co-founder of the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology, and co-author of the report. Hackers can now check a victim’s social media accounts, and create a fake email address pretending to be a friend or contact in order to get them to click on an infected link or attachment. “It’s much more targeted, and will exploit a particular vulnerability in a device, application, server or software,” Scott adds.

A typical ransom demand is $300, according to a report from security firm Symantec.

Health threats

The healthcare sector is highly targeted by hacker attacks, due to antiquated or misconfigured computer security systems and the amount of sensitive data they hold, says David DeSanto, director of projects and threat researcher at Spirent Communications.

The large number of employees at most hospitals also makes cyber security safety training difficult, DeSanto says. Experts commonly see attacks occur through spear phishing—targeted emails with attachments with names such as “updated patient list,” “billing codes” or other typical hospital communications that employees may click on if not warned.

In 2015, over 230 healthcare breaches impacted the records of 500-plus individuals, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights.

A February ransomware attack launched against Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in southern California locked access to certain computer systems and left staff unable to communicate electronically for 10 days. The hospital paid a $17,000 ransom in bitcoin to the cybercriminals, says CEO Alan Stefanek.

Following security best practices can help healthcare organizations protect themselves. “The best way is to make regular backups of all systems and critical data so that you can restore back to a known good state prior to the ransomware being on the system,” DeSanto says.

Without security best practices, healthcare organizations may be left with few options to retrieve information. In these cases, healthcare organizations may choose to pay the ransomware fee. Some make enough money that paying the ransom for a few infected computers is low compared to the cost of maintaining the infrastructure to protect these attacks, DeSanto adds.

Schools and businesses

Hackers are gaining traction and using new methods across other industry verticals as well. In 2014, a large European financial services company (whose name was not disclosed) discovered with the help of High-Tech Bridge that a hacker placed a back door between a web application and a data set.

For six months, the hacker encrypted all information before it was stored in a database, undetected by company staffers. Then, they removed the encryption key, crashing the application, and demanded $50,000 to restore access to the database.

However, the company did not end up paying, thanks to mistakes made by the hackers, Kolochenko says.

Other victims are not as lucky, says Engin Kirda, professor of computer science at Northeastern University. “If the ransomware hacker does the encryption well, once the data is encrypted it’s nearly impossible to decrypt,” he adds.

Such was the case for South Carolina’s Horry County School District this February, when hackers froze networks for 42,000 students and thousands of staff. District technology director Charles Hucks tried to shut down the system, but within minutes, the attackers immobilized 60 percent of Horry County’s computers. The district paid $8,500 in Bitcoin to unlock their systems.

Tips for IT leaders

To prevent a ransomware attack, experts say IT and information security leaders should do the following:

  1. Keep clear inventories of all of your digital assets and their locations, so cyber criminals do not attack a system you are unaware of.
  2. Keep all software up to date, including operating systems and applications.
  3. Back up all information every day, including information on employee devices, so you can restore encrypted data if attacked.
  4. Back up all information to a secure, offsite location.
  5. Segment your network: Don’t place all data on one file share accessed by everyone in the company.
  6. Train staff on cyber security practices, emphasizing not opening attachments or links from unknown sources.
  7. Develop a communication strategy to inform employees if a virus reaches the company network.
  8. Before an attack happens, work with your board to determine if your company will plan to pay a ransom or launch an investigation.
  9. Perform a threat analysis in communication with vendors to go over the cyber security throughout the lifecycle of a particular device or application.
  10. Instruct information security teams to perform penetration testing to find any vulnerabilities.

Mitigating an attack

If your company is hacked with ransomware, you can explore the free ransomware response kit for a suite of tools that can help. Experts also recommend the following to moderate an attack:

  • Research if similar malware has been investigated by other IT teams, and if it is possible to decrypt it on your own. About 30 percent of encrypted data can be decrypted without paying a ransom, Kolochenko of High-Tech Bridge says.
  • Remove the infected machines from the network, so the ransomware does not use the machine to spread throughout your network.
  • Decide whether or not to make an official investigation, or pay the ransom and take it as a lesson learned.

“There is always going to be a new, more hyper-evolved variant of ransomware delivered along a new vector that exploits a newly-found vulnerability within a common-use application,” Scott of ICIT says. “But there are so many technologies out there that offer security—you just have to use them.”

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Avoid Phishing Scams with Three Simple Tips

Phishing scams are online messages designed to look like they’re from a trusted source. We may open what we thought was a safe email, attachment or image only to find ourselves exposed to malware or a scammer looking for our personal data. The good news is we can take precautions to protect our important data. Learn to recognize the signs and report phishing to protect devices and data.

 

  1. Recognize Common Signs | Be wary of requests from unknown parties, especially if they ask for money or other sensitive information.

• Urgent or emotionally appealing language
• Requests to send personal or financial information
• Unexpected attachments
• Untrusted shortened URLs
• Email addresses that do not match the supposed sender
• Poor writing/misspellings (less common)

  1. Resist and Report | Report suspicious messages by using the “report spam” feature. If the message is designed to resemble an organization you trust, report the message by alerting the organization using their contact information found on their webpage. You can also forward your email to support@sjtechies.com for one of our Security Team members to review.
  2. Delete | Delete the message. Don’t reply or click on any attachment or link, including any “unsubscribe” link. The unsubscribe button could also carry a link used for phishing. Just delete.

If a message looks suspicious, it’s probably phishing.

 

Have questions?

 

Our team is here to help. Call us at: 856-745-9990 or visit: https://southjerseytechies.net.

 

South Jersey Techies, LLC is a full Managed Web and IT Services Company located in Marlton, NJ providing IT Services, Managed IT Services, Website Design Services, Server Support, IT Consulting, VoIP Phones, Cloud Solutions Provider and much more. Contact Us Today.

 

Let’s work together to build a safer digital environment for your business. We can increase your online safety through four simple actions, and whether at home or work, these tips make us more secure when connected. Take time to discuss them with your team so you can all become safer online!

 

  1. Use Strong Passwords | Strong passwords are long, random, and unique and include all four-character types (uppercase, lowercase, numbers, and symbols).
  2. Turn On Multi-Factor Authentication | You need more than a password to protect your online accounts; enabling MFA makes you significantly less likely to get hacked. Enable MFA on all your online accounts that offer it, especially email, social media, and financial accounts.
  3. Recognize & Report Phishing | Be cautious of unsolicited messages asking for personal information. Avoid sharing sensitive information or credentials with unknown sources. Report phishing attempts and delete the message.
  4. Update Software | Ensuring your software is up to date is the best way to make sure you have the latest security patches and updates on your devices. Regularly check for updates if automatic updates are unavailable.

In today’s digital landscape, protecting your business doesn’t have to be complicated. By adopting these simple cybersecurity practices—using strong passwords, enabling multi-factor authentication, staying vigilant against phishing, and keeping software up to date—you can safeguard your business against common threats. Remember, cybersecurity is a shared responsibility, and small actions today can make a big difference tomorrow. Stay proactive, stay protected!

 

Have questions?

 

Our team is here to help. Call us at: 856-745-9990 or visit: https://southjerseytechies.net.

 

South Jersey Techies, LLC is a full Managed Web and IT Services Company located in Marlton, NJ providing IT Services, Managed IT Services, Website Design Services, Server Support, IT Consulting, VoIP Phones, Cloud Solutions Provider and much more. Contact Us Today.

South Jersey Cyber Crime

The hackers used “ransomware” to lock the hospital out of its own medical records.

Not all kidnappers grab your loved ones.

A growing online threat – ransomware – essentially abducts your computer system, putting data and services off-limits to users and demanding a payment to restore access.

“We are seeing more cases of this – sometimes almost on a daily basis,” said New Jersey State Police Capt. Steve Jones. “And we’re not seeing all of it, because people may be too embarrassed or don’t believe it can be helped.”

Ransomware viruses are a plague. Once infected — installed to your computer by a website you’ve visited, a rogue email attachment or link, or instant message — your computer will lock up. With names like CryptoWall, these types of viruses may create a popup window or Web page warning you that you’ve broken some law and have to pay a fine, anywhere from hundreds to thousands of dollars, according to the FBI.

These scams threaten to encrypt your files forever or destroy them unless a ransom is paid, according to the FBI.

Once paid, your computer is unlocked or a code is sent to unlock the machine, authorities said.

Between April 2014 and June 2015, the FBI received 992 CryptoWall-related complaints with victims reporting a loss of more than $18 million.

The state’s top cybersecurity unit recently launched an online effort to help people guard against ransomware.

“For many organizations, preventing ransomware entirely is nearly impossible,” says the New Jersey Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Cell (NJCCIC), which introduced a Ransomware Threat Profile page at its website in February.

But it notes individuals and companies can take measures to prevent infections and to limit their impact.

Although ransomware can lock up laptops and desktop computers, the risk is particularly great for data-dependent organizations like hospitals and accounting firms, said Jones, the State Police spokesman.

So far, at least three hospitals have been hit nationwide – in California, Kentucky and the Washington, D.C., area. South Jersey hospitals are well aware of the menace.

“It’s a big concern. It’s something that has really spiked,” said Tom Handlon, chief information security officer for Kennedy Health, which operates three acute-care hospitals in South Jersey.

Handlon gave no details, but said Kennedy seeks to protect itself through protective measures inside its computer system and by promoting safe conduct by employees.
“We’re monitoring it constantly and updating as we go along,” he said. “We are really educating the staff and our entire organization that we are a target.”

A similar view came from Tom Rubino, spokesman for Cooper University Healthcare System in Camden.

“We have tracked the recent wave of ransomware attacks that have targeted hospitals across the nation,” Rubino said. He said Cooper’s IT security team “is proactively taking measures to prevent ransomware infection of our computer systems.”

“Additionally, as a critical component for preventing all computer viruses, we are increasing our employee education efforts.”

A key precaution is to back up your computer’s contents on a frequent basis, Jones said. “But you’ve got to keep the backup drives disconnected,” he warned. “Otherwise, the ransomware can migrate to the backups.”

The State Police in March 2015 investigated a hacking incident that disabled much of the computer system for the Swedesboro-Woolwich school system. In that case, a hacker demanded more than $125,000 in the form of a digital currency called bitcoins.

The district, which did not pay the ransom, had to wipe clean its email servers and cafeteria lunch-ordering system to rid itself of ransomware. Only a handful of classroom computers were infected.

Hackers exploited a gap in the district’s computer security system and a vendor’s “weak” passport to take over the computer system, Michael Procopio, Educational Information and Resource Center’s director of technology, said at the time. EIRC experts helped the district restore its system.

The district’s hacker was believed to have struck from abroad – a familiar pattern, according to the State Police.

“Many of these messages and attacks are coming through foreign servers,” Jones said. “The countries that house these servers are not often countries that have a real open relationship with law enforcement.”

Tools have been available to help decrypt older versions of ransomware, said Dave Weinstein, New Jersey’s director of cybersecurity.

“At this point, the strain has morphed to the point where there is no releasing your files,” said Al Della Fave, a spokesman for the Ocean County Prosecutor’s office. “The lock these cybercriminals put on your files is foolproof at this point.”

Unless you’ve backed up your computer prior to the infection, Della Fave said, “The only way you would get your files back is to pay.”

“Ransomware is working” for cyberthieves, said Ben Johnson, chief security strategist at Carbon Black Inc., a  computer security firm in Waltham, Massachusetts. “People are paying.”

In the last few weeks, cybercriminals have come up with some new twists, he said. For instance, one version encrypts files more quickly after someone opens up a malware-filled Microsoft Word document or some other attachment.

Other versions encrypt the computer at its most basic level so it can’t even power on, or use the computer’s own system administration tools to infect itself, he said.

The best course of action is to make sure you don’t get the virus. “You must be super careful what you click on,” Della Fave said.

Here’s what you should do, according to Johnson and the Ocean County prosecutor’s office:

  • Keep your computer’s security software up to date.
  • Keep your network firewall turned on.
  • Do not open spam email messages or links to suspicious websites.
  • Back up your files, such as documents, photos and music, to a secondary storage device.
  • Be careful when you browse the web. Use ad blockers to help protect yourself.

Have questions?

Get answers from Microsofts Cloud Solutions Partner!
Call us at: 856-745-9990 or visit: https://southjerseytechies.net/

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.

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3 ways to create more secure passwords

The must-read IT business eNewsletter

Encrypted passwords

“There is no such thing as perfect security,” says Jim Waldron, Senior Architect for Platform Security at HP. If you can access a website or server, consider it vulnerable to security breaches. That’s why so many businesses account for fraud in their business models—they expect to lose a certain amount each year to security leaks, lost IP, and more.

While you can never be 100% secure from hackers while connected to the internet, there are steps you can take to help protect your personal and professional data. All you need to do is activate features that are increasingly common (or easy to manage) on modern business-class PCs: Multi-factor authentication, client-based user authentication, and password best practices.

Multi-factor authentication
Multi-factor authentication is a simple but effective security system that involves the use of at least two factors (or methods) of authentication. It groups different factors together so that even if one is compromised, the data remains protected. Under this system, factors are divided into three domains:

HP support

 

  • Something you know: Password, PIN, etc.
  • Something you have: ATM card, smartcard, etc.
  • Something you are: Fingerprint, iris, etc.

For multi-factor authentication to be successful, you want to pull from at least two different domains, with a maximum of three domains. A common example of multi-factor authentication is when you withdraw cash from an ATM. To do so, you insert your ATM card (something you have) and enter your PIN (something you know). Without both factors you can’t access your account—and neither should anyone else.

Businesses are taking notice too, and multi-factor authentication’s popularity is rising. In 2014, 37% of enterprise organizations surveyed used multi-factor authentication for the majority of their employees, and that number is expected to grow to 56% by 2016.

What you can do now
If you have a business-grade PC, chances are your PC already includes the technologies you need to start using multi-factor authentication. In fact, HP offers multi-factor authentication on all of its business PCs. Consult your manual or HP Support, and identify the factors your PC supports in addition to traditional passwords, such as fingerprint or smartcard readers. Just make sure to choose factors from separate domains.

Client-based user authentication
Every time you log into a system, your identity needs to be authenticated by that system. This process occurs one of two ways: server-side authentication or client-based authentication. With server-side authentication your unencrypted information—such as your password or fingerprint—is sent to a server where it is compared against that server’s records. With client-based authentication, the authentication process—e.g., “Does this fingerprint match the one in our records?”—is performed on the client device, such as your work PC.

While client-based authentication is not as common as its counterpart, it is far more secure. In fact, “In almost all authentication scenarios it is preferable to perform the direct authentication on the client and then communicate an ‘Identity Assurance’ to the relying party,” says Waldron.

Everyone wins when it comes to client-based authentication. The client no longer has to send unencrypted, private information over the internet or store that information on another party’s server, while the relying party no longer has to store sensitive client information on their server—reducing the amount of information that can be stolen if and when a hack occurs.

What you can do now
One of the easiest ways to use client-based authentication is with a hardened fingerprint sensor. The sensor authenticates your fingerprint directly in the hardware, rather than sending it to a server or hard drive, and returns a key that can be used to decrypt password vaults.

Password best practices
As we’ve mentioned before, passwords aren’t perfect. While implementing and using the above features might not seem practical for some of us, everyone can benefit from following basic password best practices. They are quick to implement, and can save you a lot of hassle down the line.

To make the most of your password security, your passwords should be:

  • Long—at least 16 characters. Use a password manager to store unique passwords and fill out log-in forms so that you don’t have to memorize them.
  • Complex—containing symbols, numbers, uppercase letters, lowercase letters, and spaces (if possible)
  • Unique—only use a password once, don’t recycle or repeat across accounts
  • Short-lived—the National Cyber Security Alliance suggests changing your password every 60 days
  • Difficult to guess—avoid common words found in a dictionary, all or part of your name, repeated letters, or combos that align to your keyboard layout, such as “QWERTY” or “123456”

If you are uncertain whether your password is secure enough or if it meets enough of the criteria above, there are several reliable services that will check your password strength for you. Microsoft’s Safety & Security Center offers a free password checker you can access through your browser, while Mac users can access Apple’s Password Assistant through the Keychain Access utility.

What you can do now
The first thing you can do—right this second—is revise your most important passwords to align with password best practices. That includes your work accounts, personal email, bank accounts, and any other services that contain sensitive data. If you need help remembering your new passwords, consider using a password manager such as HP Password Manager. That way you only have to authenticate once to gain access to all your systems. You can also adopt a system to make your passwords easier to remember. Using acronyms, for example, you can turn the phrase “I was born in 1986 and my parents still live on Lake Street!” into “Iwbi1986ampsloLS!”—creating a strong password that’s easy to remember.

Passwords are changing, and while they will never be perfect, they can still provide an effective first layer of defense against hackers and ne’er do wells. The above features and techniques are increasingly common on modern business PCs, making it easier than ever to protect your private data. All you have to do is use them.

Have questions?

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South Jersey Techies, LLC 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.

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Here are the top features of iOS 11

The 10 best features you won’t be able to live without

Ready for some new iPhone and iPad features? iOS 11 is now out of beta and ready for the public. Here are the best features that came with it.

Get ready to back up your iPhone and iPad: iOS 11 is here. Apple released the latest version of its mobile operating system on Tuesday, introducing us to a handful of brand-new features. In fact, this version of iOS feels like the most ambitious version of iOS that Apple has launched in a while. Here are the best new features that we already can’t live without. 

Siri’s new tricks

Siri is one of those features that keeps getting better with each software upgrade, and iOS 11 is no exception. This time, Siri gets a new voice, plus a super-helpful visual interface that lets you even edit your voice request with text input. And now, Siri is able to translate phrases for you—it can process English to Chinese, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. Apple said that it will add more languages in the months to come.

 

Customizable Control Center

Currently, Control Center in iOS 10 takes up two panels, so you have to navigate to the second panel to access volume controls. However, iOS 11 brings everything back to a single screen and relies more on 3D Touch. Not only that, but you can also customize which controls you’d like to have on there. You can add new controls to quickly access your Wallet, turn on Low Power Mode, and even start Screen Recording—an all-new feature for iOS.

 

New Live Photo effects

Apple has given us more reasons to want to take Live Photos, those GIF-like moving images. In iOS 11, you can add effects to your Live Photos after you take them. Find a Live Photo on your camera roll and then swipe up. You will be able to add a looping effect to your photo or make it “bounce” back-and-forth, similar to an Instagram Boomerang. You can also make it a long exposure shot for better photos of low-lit scenarios.

 

Drag-and-drop on iPad

iOS 11 makes for better multitasking on iPad. Now you can drag-and-drop images, links, and files between apps that are open side-by-side, either in Split View or Side Bar mode. In fact, you can drag-and-drop an app from Dock onto Side Bar mode, and drag that secondary app from the right to the left side of the screen.

 

Markup your screenshots

Everytime you take a screenshot in iOS 11, it will automatically remain floating on the lower left. You can swipe it offscreen to save it to your camera roll as per usual, or you can tap on it to go into Markup. So now, you can add handwritten notes or comments either with your finger or with your Apple Pencil if you’re using an iPad Pro.

 

Social profiles in Apple Music

Apple Music gets social in iOS 11. Taking a page from Spotify, Apple Music members now have a profile on the streaming app. You can use your profile page to showcase your favorite playlists, as well as the albums you’ve recently listened to. You can also follow friends on Apple Music, and their profile photo will show up next to the albums they’ve listened to. However, there is currently no way to listen to music on private or secret mode, so be ready for your Apple Music followers to get a glimpse at all your guilty pleasures.

 

Do Not Disturb While Driving

This feature could be a real life-saver. iOS 11 also introduces “Do Not Disturb While Driving” so that the screen goes totally dark when you’re on the road. You can activate this mode manually via Control Center or have it turn on automatically whenever you’re connected to CarPlay or a car’s Bluetooth. In addition, you can go into your Do Not Disturb Settings to setup an automatic response to all your incoming texts to alert people that you’re driving and will get back to them as soon as you arrive.

 

Document scanner in Notes

There’s no reason to run to the office scanner anymore, thanks to iOS 11. Using the Notes app you can now press the plus (+) sign to access an all-new document scanner. You can scan several documents at once and apply different filters. The scans can be saved inside your Notes, and you can also export them as PDF files that are Markup-friendly, so you can add your signature and send it back.

 

Search for handwritten Notes

Another cool feature that iOS 11 brings to Notes is the ability to search for things you’ve written our by hand. If you prefer to take notes using your finger or your Apple Pencil on iPad Pro, they are now searchable. 

 

QuickType keyboard improvements

iOS 11 also makes significant improvements to the software keyboard. On iPhone, you can press-down on the globe icon and choose one-handed mode. This will bring all the keys closer to either the left or right side of the screen to make it easier to type with one hand. You can also make one-handed mode your default keyboard by going into Settings. For iPad, you can now type numbers, symbols, and punctuation marks without switching to a secondary keyboard. Simply flick down on the key to insert the character you need. 

What we’re still waiting for

Apple previewed a lot of new features for iOS 11, but not all of them are yet available. Here’s a quick look at what’s to come later this fall.

1. Apple Pay Cash for sending or receiving cash within Messages

2. Indoor maps for Apple Maps to help you navigate popular shopping centers and major airports worldwide. 

Have questions?

Get answers from Microsofts Cloud Solutions Partner!
Call us at: 856-745-9990 or visit: https://southjerseytechies.net/

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.

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10 killer PC upgrades that are shockingly cheap

Looking to put more pep in your PC’s step? These surprisingly cheap PC upgrades and accessories do the trick without breaking the bank.

PCupgrades1

No need to break the bank

Sure, swanky new Surface Pros and $1,200 graphics cards may capture all the headlines, but on a practical level, the real story is that PCs aren’t cheap. But if your computer’s starting to feel pokey, there’s fortunately no reason to rush out a spend hundreds on a new one.

Investing small amounts in key new PC hardware can keep your computer running strong for years to come. These upgrades—most costing well under $100—breathe new life into slow machines. You just have to be strategic and make sure you’re putting your money in the best place for your particular system.

PCupgrades2

Speed up your PC with an SSD

Let’s start in the most obvious place. If your PC still runs with a mechanical hard drive, swapping it out with an SSD will make it feel like a whole new computer. SSDs inject face-melting speed into a PC, drastically improving boot times, file transfers, and overall system responsiveness.

A lot of PCs don’t have SSDs, for two reasons: Solid-state drives use to be extravagantly expensive, and computer makers often charge hefty mark-ups for upgrading to an SSD. Fortunately, SSD prices have plummeted in recent years. Superb models like theSamsung 850 EVO ($89.39 for 250GB on Amazon) and the OCZ Trion 150 ($45 for 120GB on Amazon) can be found for well under $100 online. If you find the storage capacities a bit too tight, you can always install the SSD as a boot drive alongside your current hard drive.

A word of warning about SSDs, and all the hardware discussed in this article: You can often find lower prices if you sift through Amazon or Newegg for no-name or lesser-known brands. But you’re gambling on reliability and support when you move away from established PC hardware makers. Stick with name brand gear unless you absolutely, positively can’t afford it.

PCupgrades3

Mass storage is dirt cheap

Good news if your available storage space is filled to the brim: Traditional hard drives are even cheaper than SSDs these days. A 1TB Western Digital Blue hard drive spinning at a speedy 7,200rpm will only set you back $50 on Amazon, while a 3TB WD Blue drive is just $90 on Amazon (albeit at a slower 5,400rpm).

Hybrid drives blend the best of both worlds, combining a large amount of traditional storage with a small, speedy flash storage cache. The drive monitors your oft-used files and keeps them on the cache, where they benefit from SSD-esque speeds. A Seagate 1TB hybrid drive goes for $85 on Amazon with an 8GB SSD cache, or $114 on Amazonwith a 32GB cache.

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Add RAM for more multitasking

If your computer’s having trouble running multiple tasks simultaneously, low memory is a likely culprit. Two gigabytes of RAM is the absolute minimum modern Windows systems need to run smoothly, and even PCs with 4GB of memory can start to feel pokey if you’re running several programs, keep a dozen Chrome tabs open, or game with some background processes still running.

Fortunately, memory is dirt cheap. Picking up an 8GB memory kit from Corsair ($36 for 2x4GB kit on Amazon) or Kingston ($36 for 2x4GB kit on Amazon)—two reliable brands I’ve had nothing but success with personally—will set you back less than $5 per gigabyte.

Just be sure to get the right type of memory for your PC! RAM comes in all sorts of different packages. The easiest way to tell what type of RAM resides in your PC is to download the free, superb CPU-Z software, then open the Memory tab and look for the “type” option.

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MAYBE upgrade your CPU

A pokey PC may be the result of an outdated processor. Unfortunately, replacing your CPU often means replacing your motherboard too, making the endeavor pretty pricey. But not always—especially if you have an AMD-powered system.

AMD’s AM3+ and FM2 motherboards have been powering AMD’s CPUs and APUs, respectively, since mid-2012. Since many prebuilt AMD systems sport modest processors, upgrading to a modern CPU can give your PC a shot in the arm. If you’re on FM3+, the new Athlon X4 860K ($75 on Amazon) is a solid entry-level quad-core processor for gaming, while the 8-core FX-8320E ($130 on Amazon) is a great step-up option and price-to-performance champion. If you have an FM2-based system with an AMD APU, the A10-7860K ($110 on Amazon) could be a solid upgrade, complete withintegrated graphics that let you get into e-sports games at modest frame rates.

Intel switches out its motherboards and socket types much more often, and its chips tend to be much more expensive. Replacing Intel chips aren’t really an affordable upgrade in most cases.

It’s important to make sure your new chip is compatible with your existing motherboard! Before you buy, fire up CPU-Z and search for the “Package” entry in the main CPU tab to see what sort of socket your motherboard packs.

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Gaming doesn’t have to be expensive

Want to dip your toes into PC gaming? Despite what fearmongers may tell you, gaming doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg.

AMD’s Radeon RX 460 ($110 and up on Newegg) delivers great performance in e-sports games like League of Legends and Overwatch. It also lets you play modern games at a console-esque 30 frames per second with High graphics settings at 1080p, or up to 60fps at Medium settings. That’s damned good for a hair over $100. Even better: Many models pull their power directly from your motherboard, with no need for additional power connectors. That makes AMD’s budget card a great option for adding gaming capabilities to prebuilt “big box” PCs from the likes of HP and Dell, as they often pack modest power supplies that lack extra connectors.

Be careful though: Some of the more potent Radeon RX 460 models require extra 6-pin power connectors. You don’t want that if you don’t have one available—unless you want to buy a power supply, too. A 500 watt power supply from a reputable company doesn’t cost much, as evidenced by the EVGA 500 W1, which only costs $35 on Amazon.

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Buy some canned air

No, seriously. If you haven’t cleaned out your PC in a year or more, mounds of dust and debris can be collected inside. Clogged fans and exhaust ports lead to overheating, which leads to your PC throttling back performance. Single containers of canned air can be relatively pricey; grab a four pack ($16.22 on Amazon) for a lower price and enough air to clean out your PC for years to come.

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Improve your cooling, improve your performance

If your PC’s still running hot after blowing out the dust, the thermal paste coating the area where your CPU or GPU touches its cooler could be old, dry, and ineffective, especially if you’ve had the equipment for several years.

First, install SpeedFan and double check that your CPU or GPU is indeed overheating. If one (or both!) is, grab a syringe of thermal paste—Arctic Silver 5 ($7.43 on Amazon)—then use guides to installing a CPU cooler and refreshing your graphics card to help you apply new thermal paste after scraping off the old stuff.

Still running hot overall? Try adding a case fan or two. Case fans from reputable vendors are shockingly cheap ($7.91 from Cooler Master on Amazon, or $9 from NZXT on Amazon) and can be installed in mere minutes.

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A better monitor

You spend most of your time interacting with your computer’s input and output devices, so it’s definitely worth investing in decent peripherals if you spend considerable time at your PC.

Start with your monitor. If you’re still using a lower-resolution display or (shudder) a fat CRT display, embracing a high-definition 1080p monitor will provide a huge step up in usability. It won’t break the bank either: You can buy a 1080p HP with a 21.5-inch IPS screen for just $100 on Amazon. IPS screens provide a much more vibrant image than the twisted-nematic panels found in most budget monitors.

Alternatively, if you’re a gamer with a Radeon graphics card, consider buying a monitor that supports AMD’s FreeSync technology. FreeSync synchronizes the refresh rate of your graphics card and display to eliminate stutter and screen tearing in games. While monitors with Nvidia’s competing G-Sync technology fetch steep price premiums, FreeSync adds minimal cost to a display. A 22-inch 1080p FreeSync display by ViewSonic costs just $110 on Amazon, for example.

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Aural bliss

Treat your ears, too. The speakers that come bundled with prebuilt PCs tend to be utter garbage. While audio gear pricing can escalate to frightening levels, some of our favorite headsets will set you back less than a Benjamin.

If you’re a gamer, our favorite all-around gaming headset is the Kingston HyperX Cloud($67.93 on Amazon). The sound quality is second to none in this bracket, the build quality is superb, and it’s extremely comfortable—though its microphone is merely average.

Don’t need a mic? Music lovers will find a lot to love in the Sennheiser HD 280 Pro ($99.95 on Amazon), which I’ve personally been using for years now. The comfortably snug cans lack the extreme bass kick of, say, Beats or Monster headphones, but make up for it by delivering rich, accurate, and dynamic audio across the full sound spectrum. They’re beloved among Amazon buyers for a reason.

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Enhance the parts you physically touch

If you’re used to crappy bundled PC keyboards, or laptop keyboards, upgrading to a mechanical keyboard will change your life. The well-reviewed Logitech G610 Orion withCherry MX Brown or Red switches only costs $90 on Amazon.That’s probably more than most people have spent on a keyboard before, but it’s cheap by mechanical standards. Once you’ve tried it, you won’t be able to go back to a rubber-dome board.

Likewise, investing in a decent mouse makes interacting with your PC that much more pleasant. The Razer DeathAdder ($42.69 on Amazon) is ostensibly a gaming mouse, but its ergonomic design and high DPI sensor help it feel good in your palm and generate nice, smooth cursor movements. I’ve been using one for more than five years now, and grimace whenever i’m forced to use a cheap mouse bundled with a prebuilt PC.

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But first…

Speeding up your well-loved PC doesn’t actually have to cost any money. You’ll find a few tips repeated from here—seriously, buy an SSD—but for the most part, it focuses on no-cost software solutions for potentially boosting your computer’s performance. Try those before dropping dough on new gear!

Have questions?

Get answers from Microsofts Cloud Solutions Partner!
Call us at: 856-745-9990 or visit: https://southjerseytechies.net/

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Uninstall now! Apple abandons QuickTime for Windows despite lingering critical flaws

Apple is giving up on QuickTime for Windows.

Yet another program is joining Java 6 and Windows XP as big-name software you do not want running on your PC. Security firmTrend Micro and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security are advising all Windows users to uninstall Apple’s QuickTime as soon as possible. (The advisory does not affect Mac users.)

The reason for getting rid of QuickTime for Windows is twofold. First, Apple told Trend Micro it is deprecating the software and will no longer deliver security updates for it. Second, there are two known critical vulnerabilities that could allow an attacker to take control of a system running QuickTime.

That’s a hellacious combo.

Apple was unavailable for comment at this writing, but a quick look at QuickTime’s download page shows the software is still publicly available. It hasn’t been updated since at least January, however.

Trend Micro says it does not yet know of any instances where the two potential security threats are being used in the wild but that could change. Trend Micro’s Zero Day Initiative recently published some technical details about the vulnerabilities. ZDI did this because its disclosure policy requires it to publish threat information when a “vendor indicates that the product is deprecated,” and thus won’t be patched.

If you’re a longtime user of iTunes you may be running QuickTime. To dump the program, open the Control Panel on your PC and then from the “category” view go to Programs > Uninstall a program. Once the list of installed programs populates, scroll down until you find QuickTime. Select it with your mouse, and then click Uninstall towards the top of the window. A pop-up window will then appear asking to confirm that you want to uninstall the program. Click Yes and you’ll be QuickTime-free in no time.

A survey published by Secunia Research in late 2015 found that Apple software is among the programs that are updated the least often by Windows users.

Why this matters: Whenever software is about to be abandoned it’s always a good idea to move away from it—or at least start planning to. That goes double for software with known flaws that allow the bad guys to execute code on your machine. QuickTime used to be an important piece of software for Windows users. But these days you don’t need it to watch movie trailers on Apple’s site and it’s no longer used by iTunes to play media on Windows. There’s little reason for the vast majority of Windows users to keep QuickTime on their PCs.

Have questions?

Get answers from Microsofts Cloud Solutions Partner!
Call us at: 856-745-9990 or visit: https://southjerseytechies.net/

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.

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Old Windows PCs can stop WannaCry ransomware with new Microsoft patch

In a rare step, Microsoft published a patch for Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Windows 8

Users of old Windows systems can now download a patch to protect them from this week’s massive ransomware attack.

In a rare step, Microsoft published a patch for Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Windows 8 — all of them operating systems for which it no longer provides mainstream support.

Users can download and find more information about the patches in Microsoft’s blog post about Friday’s attack from the WannaCry ransomware.

The ransomware, which has spread globally, has been infecting computers by exploiting a Windows vulnerability involving the Server Message Block protocol, a file-sharing feature.

Computers infected with WannaCry will have their data encrypted, and display a ransom note demanding $300 or $600 in bitcoin to free the files.

Fortunately, Windows 10 customers were not targeted in Friday’s attack. In March, Microsoft patched the vulnerability that the ransomware exploits — but only for newer Windows systems. That’s left older Windows machines, or those users who failed to patch newer machines, vulnerable to Friday’s attack.

Researchers originally believed the ransomware was spread through attachments in email phishing campaigns. That no longer appears to be the case.

Infection attempts from the WannaCry ransomware.

Once a vulnerable PC becomes infected, the computer will attempt to spread to other machines over the local network as well as over the internet. The ransomware will specifically scan for unpatched machines that have the Server Message Block vulnerability exposed.

Businesses can prevent this by disabling the Server Message Block protocol in vulnerable PCs. They can also use a firewall to block unrecognized internet traffic from accessing the networking ports the Server Message Block uses.

Fortunately, Friday’s ransomware attack may have been contained. A security researcher who goes by the name MalwareTech has activated a sort of kill-switch in WannaCry that stops it from spreading.

As a result, over 100,000 new infections were prevented, according to U.K.’s National Cyber Security Centre. But experts also warn that WannaCry’s developers may be working on other versions that won’t be easy to disable.

“It’s very important everyone understands that all they (the hackers) need to do is change some code and start again. Patch your systems now!” MalwareTech tweeted.

Unfortunately, the kill-switch’s activation will provide no relief to existing victims. The ransomware will persist on systems already infected.

Friday’s ransomware attack appears to have spread mainly in Europe and Asia, with Russia among those nations hardest hit, according to security researchers.

Security experts are advising victims to wait before paying the ransom. It’s possible that researchers will develop a free solution that can remove the infection.

Have questions?

Get answers from Microsofts Cloud Solutions Partner!
Call us at: 856-745-9990 or visit: https://southjerseytechies.net/

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.

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