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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.
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.
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.
Today I googled, “how many passwords does the average user have?” and the top answer that appeared stated that a research study conducted by NordPass reports that an average person has approximately 100 passwords.
This sounds like a lot to remember, not gonna lie, but to go a step further depending on devices you’re using and how your various accounts are setup for login, you are also probably using a combination of pins, patterns, biometric authentication (fingerprints, facial recognition, etc.), the more common two factor authentication, and then of course the good old trusty password and if you’re lucky your using some form of password management to keep track of all those passwords.
If you’re overwhelmed, that’s okay, we know there is a lot to remember when logging in to all your various accounts. However, there is a new login technique that became available this year called the passkey which is promising to solve phishing and prevent password reuse.
Now you’re probably asking what is a passkey, well according to Hoffman-Andrews article on What the !#@% is a Passkey? from the Electronic Frontier Foundation website eff.org.
The passkey is approximately 100-1400 bytes of random data, generated on your device (like your phone, laptop, or security key) for the purpose of logging in on a specific website. Once the passkey is generated, your browser registers it with the website and it gets stored somewhere safe (for instance, your password manager). From then on, you can use that passkey to log in to that website without entering a password. When you go to a website’s login page, you’ll have the option to “Sign in with a passkey.” If you choose that option, you’ll get a confirmation prompt from your password manager and will be logged in after confirmation. For all this to work, there needs to be passkey support on the website, your browser, your password manager, and usually also your operating system.
Pros
- The fact that each account has its own passkey helps prevent phishing and won’t let you log into a fake scam site.
- Using a passkey, you can usually skip the traditional two-factor authentication as it counts using your devices unlock pin, facial recognition, or fingerprint as the other factor of authentication.
- If you’re always forgetting your password and having to reset it often, you’re going to be forced to use a password manager, so the issue of forgetting your password has been solved.
- Never have to come up with a new password as passkeys are generated and then stored.
Cons
- Not all websites support passkeys yet.
- Syncing between Apple, Windows, and Android is tricky.
- Still must set up multiple passkeys for each account.
- If somehow you lose your device, and the password manager is unlocked/opened your accounts are vulnerable.
- Passkeys are device specific so you would need to have passkeys stored on all devices your access accounts with.
- The solution for this is to backup passkeys on your password manager using the cloud and then copy the file to the different devices, use a USB device, or passkeys can be stored in high-security chips that are built into newer devices.
To conclude, passkeys still have room for improvement, when it comes to website support and the ability to sync between platforms. However, for most purposes, using passkeys will represent a significant improvement in security helping to protect you for phishing.
Today we are going to talk about backups. Are you doing backups? Are your backups protected from hardware failures, viruses, ransomware, acts of god? Are they scheduled to run automatically or do you need to run them manually? We will dig into a few of these topics today.
First. Are you doing backups? If your answer to this is no then we need to talk. If you care about your data at all you should be doing backups. Everything from your important business data, all the way down to the pictures you took of your grandkids needs to be backed up. So, no matter who you are chances are you need some backups.
Let’s discuss some types of backups and the pros and cons.
Cloud storage. Cloud storage has several advantages. It’s easy, it happens automatically, and it’s available on most computers and phone types.
But cloud storage has it’s drawbacks. It can be slow depending on your internet connection speed. Backup space can be very limited. Meaning you could run out of room before you backup everything. There is only one copy in most cases. So, if you delete a file it is immediately deleted from the backup. If you get a virus or ransomware it can spread to your backups almost instantly, although some providers are putting systems in place to help prevent this. These options must be setup per computer so may not be manageable on larger networks.
Thumb Drives/External Hard Drives. If you purchase a drive big enough for all of your data, you can store everything you want. And drives are inexpensive so getting one that is big enough is easy. Usually you can oversize the drive and keep multiple copies. You can buy multiple drives and rotate and keep one or more off-site.
Drawbacks of this method are it is mostly a manual process. There are some programs to help automate it, but most require some amount of manual intervention. Also thumb drives have a higher failure rate than other drives. While it is not that bad, it is a consideration.
Server based backup solutions. Server based backup solutions are a must have for any business that needs to backup multiple computers and systems on a regular basis. They can be automated, scheduled and can require no intervention from the end user to run. Good systems will be isolated from the user network so that any virus/ransomeware attacks don’t propagate to the existing backups.
The initial setup of Server based backups can be very involved. But once thy are up and running they can run for a long time without intervention. Although they should be checked regularly to make sure everything is working as intended.
So, we’ve established that you probably need backups. But which backups are appropriate for you? Well that depends on who you are and what you’re backing up. Multiple types of backup are always recommended. Off-site backups are always recommended.
If you are a home user that is just wanting to protect your pictures of kids or grandkids, cloud storage and a couple of thumb drives will do the trick. The cloud storage covers the off-site and the thumb drive covers the multiple types.
If you are a business with lots of important data you should have a server based backup system. In addition you should have a second form of backups like external hard drives with a copy of the backup server and possibly other important systems. The external drive should be stored off-site to protect against fires, tornadoes and other potential building losses.
Like most other topics, these are just the basics. A good starting point.
If you need help designing the perfect backup solution, we can help. Contact us today.
Did you know there are many keyboard shortcuts to make you life easier when working on your computer? If you don’t, you are about to. These shortcuts can make your computer experience much more efficient with less frustration.
Select, Cut, Copy, And Paste Text
You can select text with Shift and the arrow keys. Also you can use Shift and Page up/down to select a whole page of text at a time. Or if you want to select everything just hit Ctrl+A.
Ctrl+X, Ctrl+C, and Ctrl+V are used for cut, copy and paste. All you have to do is select the text you want to work with and copy or cut it with Ctrl+C or Ctrl+X. Then go to the new location and paste it with Ctrl+P.
Lock your computer.
Win+L is a quick way to lock your computer.
Switch between open programs.
Alt+Tab is a quick way to switch between open programs. Just hold the Alt key and hit Tab until you get to the program you want, then let off the Alt key and it will put that program in front.
Win+Tab or Ctrl+Alt+Tab pull up a list of open programs. Then just arrow to the program you want and hit enter.
Open multiple programs on one monitor.
Win+Arrow keys will snap a program to the left or right side of your screen. Use this to view two programs at once. You can also use the up and down arrows to maximize or minimize the program. Hitting Win+Arrow keys twice will lock the program to that side of the screen so the up and down arrows will move it to the top or bottom of the screen.
Take a screenshoot.
Win+Prt sc will take a screenshot of your current screen and copy it to your clipboard. Then just paste it into any program that can display a picture.
Magnify your screen.
Win+(+) Will magnify your screen. Use Win+(-) to reduce the size. Ctrl+0 will bring it back to normal.
Other shortcuts you can use.
Win+Crtl+D opens a new virtual desktop.
Win+Crtl+ switch between virtual desktops.
Win+M will minumize all open programs and take you back to the desktop.
Win+, quick view of desktop. Your programs will reappear when you release the keys.
Win+R will bring up the run prompt. Just type in the program you want to run and hit enter.
Ctrl+Shift+Esc Opens task manager.
Win+E Opens file explorer.
Win+A Brings up the notifications menu.
Hopefully these shortcuts will make your computing experience more productive. If I missed your favorite shortcut, please let me know.
My wife received this e-mail.
~~~~~~~~~~
I do know, xxx, is your password. You don’t know me and you’re probably thinking why you’re getting this e mail, right? In fact, I actually setup a malware on the adult vids (porn material) web site and guess what, you visited this website to experience fun (you know what I mean). While
you were watching videos, your browser started out operating as a RDP (Remote Desktop) that has a key logger which provided me accessibility to your display screen and web camera. Immediately after that, my software obtained your complete contacts from your Messenger, FB, and email. What exactly did I do?
I created a double-screen video. 1st part displays the video you were watching (you’ve got a
good taste ; )), and 2nd part displays the recording of your web camera. What should you do?Well, I believe, $2900 is a reasonable price tag for our little secret. You will make the payment by Bitcoin (if you do not know this, search “how to buy bitcoin” in Google).
BTC Address: xxxXXXxxxxxXXXXxxxxXXXXxxxxXXXXXxxxxxXXXx
(It is cAsE sensitive, so copy and paste it)
Important:You now have one day in order to make the payment. (I have a special pixel in this e mail, and now I know that you have read this email message). If I do not receive the BitCoins, I will send your video recording to all of your contacts including members of your family, co-workers, and many others. Nonetheless, if I do get paid, I’ll destroy the video immidiately. If you really want evidence,
reply with “Yes!” and I definitely will send out your video recording to your 9 contacts. It is a non-negotiable offer, therefore please do not waste my personal time and yours by replying to this email message.~~~~~~~~
Just so we’re clear the password is a password that she has used. After some research it seems that a lot of people have received this e-mail.
If you receive a similar e-mail, don’t be fooled. The password is from a data breach. There is no video, even if you visited a porn site. DO NOT SEND BITCOIN. If you are still using this password please change it. They have your e-mail address and password. They can get into sites that use this password. So start changing them now. But again there is no video and they do not have control of your computer. DO NOT SEND THEM ANY MONEY.
In today’s world of Internet connections, network security involves more than just having secure passwords. See my article at https://gigasystems.com/createasecurepassword/ for help choosing a secure password.
Secure passwords are very important but they cannot protect you from every thing. A good password will not stop someone who can just bypass passwords all together. So let’s go over a few ideas to help stop the bad guys.
First and probably the easiest thing to do is keep everything up to date. Updates are written to fix known security holes and other problems. And it doesn’t matter what system you are using, Windows, Mac, Linux, or on-line programs like blogs and photo galleries. Also, let’s not forget your phone system. Even if it’s not connected to the Internet, it is accessible to the outside world through the phone lines.
Let’s start with the forgotten phone system. Modern phone systems have services that connect to the computer network and in many cases, the Internet. For these systems, there are usually updates available. It’s very important to keep up with these updates. The last thing you want is someone adding extensions to give out stolen credit card numbers or changing the password and locking you out of your own system. Older systems that do not connect to the Internet are still vulnerable. Most systems allow access to system features from any touch tone phone. Services like checking voice mail, making outbound calls, or making system changes. When I hear the prerecorded prompts, I can usually tell what brand of system it is (or I can just walk into your building and look at a phone to see what brand it is) and from there getting default passwords is pretty simple (you’ll want to make sure you change those). If I can tell what you have so can the bad guys.
On to the computers. So, you have all of your updates installed and you’re using strong passwords. You’re done right? Wrong. Most systems have a set of services installed by default. These are services that get used quite often. But if they are not used, they should be turned off. Next ,you should have a good firewall to filter who is allowed to connect to your network. That network service that didn’t get turned off could be giving out information usable to the bad guys, or provide a way into your network. Especially if it is not firewalled properly.
What about printers, routers, and other network devices? Some of these could have some big security holes that need to be addressed. If you have any concerns you should have Giga Systems come test your system to see how secure it is. These are just the basics, but doing a little due diligence now could save you from a lot of trouble down the road.
Choosing a secure and rememberable password.
Today we’re going to talk about creating a secure password that is also rememberable. Passwords are your first line of defense against the bad guys.
Before we get started with creating a secure password let’s talk about some things you shouldn’t do when creating a secure password.
- Do not use “password” or “123456”. Believe it or not these and variations of them (pass1234, password1, etc…) are still some of the most popular passwords around. They are also some of the most insecure passwords in use. Why? Because the bad guys know they are so popular.Do not use “god”, Jesus”, “LetMeIn” or cuss words. See number
- Do not use words found in the dictionary. All password cracking programs have words from the dictionary in them, including slang and cuss words.
- Avoid using keyboard patterns like qwerty. If your not familiar with qwerty it’s the first six letters from the left on the top row of the keyboard. Password crackers have become wise to this tactic.
- Unless you have the memory of an elephant or a good password manager (See number 4 below.) you should probably avoid randomly generated passwords. While they are very secure, most people cannot remember them and will end up writing them down or putting them in a text document which is very insecure.
- Do not use the same password everywhere. (Help with this is coming. See number 4 below.)
Now for something more helpful.
- Replace letters with numbers or symbols or even other letters. Pat could become P@+ or dogs could become d0gz.
- Always use numbers and/or symbols as well as letters in your password.
- String multiple words or number sets together to create stronger passphrases. They should not be related but should be remember-able. For example, if your favorite sport is baseball and you love pizza. And for some reason 315 always sticks in your head. Try P1sz@B@$e8all315.
- Use a password manager. You just have to remember one password to get into the program. All of your other passwords are safely encrypted inside a database. There are some very good ones available for free. KeePass is my favorite. It runs in Windows and Linux, plus it runs on most smartphones. So you have access to your passwords anywhere.