October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month! Just how security cautious are you?

It’s late in October, with less than a week until November. Where did the year go? While I try to figure that out, did you know that since 2004, the President of the United States and Congress have declared October to be Cybersecurity Awareness Month? This month is dedicated to encouraging the public and private sectors to work together to raise awareness about the importance of cybersecurity.

What is Cybersecurity?

You’ve probably heard the term “cybersecurity,” but you might not know what it means. Cybersecurity is about protecting important information and maintaining productivity. It involves a variety of technologies and practices designed to defend against cyberattacks, which can aim to access, change, destroy, or hold sensitive information hostage while demanding ransom.

What Steps Should I Take to Secure My Data?

While cybersecurity is constantly evolving, there are some simple steps you, as the user, can take to help safeguard your data—none of which will cost you a dime. These methods include, but are not limited to:

  • Using strong passwords.
  • Enabling multifactor authentication (MFA/2FA) when possible.
  • Using common sense:
    • If a link looks suspicious in an email you’re reading, click the delete button.
    • If a link on a website looks strange, click the exit button.
    • Don’t engage with emails claiming you’ve won a free iPhone or that a long-lost prince needs your financial help to reclaim his title.
    • If people you’ve never heard of call about your extended car warranty or claim there’s a problem with your computer, DO NOT give them any personal information.

Additionally, it’s essential to ensure your device’s software is up to date, back up all your data, and use antivirus/malware detection tools—something Giga Systems can help you with.

What Giga Systems Can Offer

Giga Systems provides a variety of services, from installing and configuring technology for office buildings to helping recover from major failures. One of our main goals is to prioritize security in everything we do while assisting our customers in creating real-world solutions for their networking, communication, and security needs.

In honor of Cybersecurity Awareness Month, we want to offer our network monitoring services to everyone. Giga Systems’ monitoring services will include antivirus/malware detection, help to ensure that all your devices stay up to date with all the necessary updates plus monitoring of your computers for suspicious activity.

Prices will depend on the number of devices you have and whether you would like to add remote or on-site support (availability for on-site support will depend on your location).

Example Pricing:

  • For one single computer with just monitoring, the price starts as low as $20 a month. If you add remote support, the price becomes $40 a month, and you might be able to add on-site support for $60 a month, depending on your location.
  • For ten computers with a server and on-site support available, the price for the month would be $720.

If you’re interested, please contact us by emailing in**@*********ms.com or call 405-877-9090 for a custom quote.

The Latest Versions of Windows 11 Will Encrypt Your Data (Hard Drive) By Default

Before I begin, this newsletter is focused on Windows, so unfortunately if you’re not a Windows user this newsletter won’t apply to you… Unless you find yourself on the market for a new Windows computer with the latest Windows installed or needing to install/reinstall the latest version of Windows.

You are now probably wondering, “what’s up”. Well a couple of months ago Microsoft announced that the latest version of Windows 11, will now have Bit Locker (Microsoft Encryption Software) enable by default. The challenge down the road comes when data recovery measures are needed, because of situations of system malfunctions, forgotten passwords, or hardware failures, is that most people would not know where to look for the required recovery encryption key.

What is Bit Locker?

You must be thinking now, what is Bit Locker? As mentioned, Bit Locker is the built-in Windows feature that is design to encrypt your entire hard drive using an encryption key (stored in a special hard-to-hack chip called a TPM) so that if your computer is stolen or hacked, the malicious individuals can’t just pull your data off the drive without logging in as you. The encryption isn’t a one-time thing, and Bit Locker continues encrypting your data as you add more data to your computer as you use it and all this works in the background, so you have the peace of mind that this is a layer of protection protecting your data from unauthorized users.

However, as mentioned, the challenge comes later down the road, when faced with the need to recover data from your device for numerous reasons not limited to system malfunctions, forgotten passwords, or hardware failures. Which leads us to the main reason for this newsletter to inform our followers that with Microsoft enabling BitLocker by default most people wouldn’t know where to look for the required recovery encryption key so you’re able to get access to your data again during data recovery.

Recovering Your Encryption Key

When it comes to where to find your encryption key the likely place to check for the recovery key is going to be on your Microsoft account. Many people when registering their version of Windows will use a Microsoft account which will then allow Microsoft to back up the Bit Locker recover key automatically, which can be found by going to https://account.microsoft.com/devices/recoverykey. Just make sure that the Microsoft Account you use is the same one you used to register Windows.

If your recovery key isn’t found by using the above method, chances are the device was registered under a work or school email account, and you will most likely need to contact that organizations IT support staff to see if they will check and retrieve your encryption recovery key for you.

Does This Sound Like Too Much?

If this sounds like a lot, and you’re in the process of setting up a new computer(s) and feeling overwhelmed Giga Systems is here to help. We can help guide you through the computer buying process, recommending computer(s), network equipment, and more all to meet your technology needs and your budget. We can also help you set up your computer(s) and network, making sure that any important data like the Bit Locker Recovery Encryption Key is securely backed up.

Once you’re up and running we have services available to help maintain your computer(s) and network by making sure important updates get installed to your system, and by making sure your data is backed up regularly. Giga Systems is also able to offer cyber security software like antivirus and password managers for all those who might be interested.

Contact Giga Systems Today! Email us at in**@*********ms.com or call us 405-877-9090 to setup a consultation today.

The Shut Down Power Option Doesn’t Fully Shut Down Your Windows PC (But Restarting Does)

Imagine! It’s Friday and the last thing you need to do before going home for the weekend is shut down your PC. You grab your mouse, you click on the power icon, and you gladly select the shutdown option, your PC turns off, you go home, and you don’t think about your PC until Monday. Now that Monday has begun, you power up your PC, take a sip from the beverage of your choice, and five minutes after your PC finishes booting you try to print an important memo, but the printer isn’t working. After trying to get the memo to print for the last 15 minutes, you call IT who says restart your PC, so slightly frustrated, you kindly inform IT that the PC has just been turned on less than 30 minutes ago. You and IT share a tense moment of silence, then IT asks when was the last time you restarted your PC? IT then goes on to explain that windows do not properly shut down the system anymore since Window 8.1.

To explain this scenario, we have to take a look at the year 2012, when Microsoft was set to release Windows 8, one of the chief things Microsoft aim to fix in the new version of Windows was how long it took the PC to boot up. Which is why Microsoft created a new feature design to make booting up your PC faster called Fast Startup/Hybrid Shutdown which has remained a default setting in the newest versions of Windows.

To understand what Fast Startup/Hybrid Shutdown is; you first have to know what the traditional power options in Windows were and what they did.

Shutdown – Fully shut down everything, discarding the running system state, and starts up the PC from scratch the next time it boots.
Hibernate/Sleep – Saves the entire system state, including all your open programs and files, to disk so you can quickly resume from where you left off.
This now takes us back to what Fast Startup/Hybrid Shutdown feature which is a mix of the traditional shutdown process with hibernation/sleep. Fast Startup/Hybrid Shutdown discards all your open programs and files (as it would during a traditional shutdown) but saves the state of the Windows kernel (the heart of windows operating system) to disk (as it would during hibernation). The next time you boot your PC, Windows restores the kernel and starts up the rest of the system.

The Fast Startup/Hybrid Shutdown is an awesome feature normally but there are times something in the kernel becomes funky, and the kernel needs to be dumped, and a new kernel created.

Which is why it’s important to remember that shutting down your PC won’t fix the issue but restarting it will. You can disable Fast Startup/Hybrid Shutdown as well. It will slow your boot time down, but on a modern fast computer it shouldn’t be too bad.

Did you know that Giga Systems sells computers, including this powerful mini-PC.

Beelink SEi12 mini-PC is maybe compact but it’s powerful! The size of this mini-PC comes out to 4.964.441.65 inches, so it is perfect for those who do not have a lot of space. This mini-PC is equipped with Intel i5-12450H Processor, 16G DDR4 RAM, WiFi 6, Display Port + HDMI, etc. To create a powerful combination to make your work easier and more efficient. For more detailed specs click here click here to learn more.

You can own Beelink SEi12 Mini PC today for $579 or bundled with a Logitech Wireless Keyboard/Mouse, and Lenova 21’ Monitor for $725. Plus applicable taxes and shipping.

To purchase or for more information contact Giga Systems at 405-877-9090 or email us at sa***@*********ms.com.