One of the greatest things about the Android system is widgets. They help us check our mail, change the song, or the settings, all from the home screen(s) of our device. You could say they are multi-taskers and efficiency enablers that help users get the most out of their phones. The only issue with widgets is, you can’t usually use them while using another program, well, not without an app.

Widgets are small apps that enable a user to perform a function of an app e.g., change the song playing without having to open the music player on your Android. Widgets are an integral part of the Android platform as most of them allow users to execute the main function of an app from the home screen. Widgets Anywhere, USD$1.99 on Google Play, is a great app for Android users who love multi-tasking. It allows users to have access to their favorite widget even while in a program.

The app is currently available for devices using Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and 4.1 (Jelly Bean). If you have Jelly Bean, you can easily bring up your favorite widget by pressing and holding on the Home button (center button), and selecting the Widgets Anywhere logo. This will work anywhere, making it easy for you to multitask.

You can also set the size, transparency and visibility along with what widget is shown from the apps settings. The only downside we can see with this app is that it replaces the Google Now shortcut on Jelly Bean, however, few users utilize this feature anyway.

This app definitely makes the Android user experience easier, especially if you’re a heavy widget user. If you’d like to know more about using Android in your business please contact us.

Security is an Internet issue that has never really gone away. If recent events are any indicator, security has become a hot-button issue, with many websites seeing some form of security related breach in the past year. The vast majority of these breaches target user’s personal information, which could lead to identity theft.

In the first quarter of 2012, nearly 12 million pieces of online identification and personal information were stolen by thieves. This represents a nearly threefold increase over the same time period in 2010. A staggering number for just three months, and it’s forecasted that the number will only increase in the years to come.

With this large amount of information being stolen, the question many are asking is why is this increasing? There are a number of reasons, the biggest being that netizens are signing up for more online accounts. Take a moment to try and count the number of accounts you have online; on average people have 26. Now, think how many passwords you use for these online accounts. An overwhelming majority use five or fewer. If thieves get a hold of one password, chances are nearly 80% that they will be able to gain access to other accounts.

If you are one of the many users who use the same email for a number of different accounts, your chances of having vital private information stolen from an account breach are nearly 100%. If you’ve connected or stored copies of identification or credit cards using an account that gets hacked, there’s no stopping someone from stealing your identity.

A recent study conducted by Experian, a credit-checking company, found that 14% of identity theft victims experience refusal of loans and credit-cards, 9% have debt racked up in their name, 7% are refused phone contracts and 7% are chased by debt collectors. While potentially scary stuff, most theft can luckily be prevented. You should ensure that you use a different password for every online account, that no important information (e.g., credit card, Social Insurance, Passport, etc.) is stored online and you use a password that is hard to guess.

If you have concerns about your online security, please contact us. We may have a solution for you.

Any new technology that is profoundly, or even remotely, popular will always have people who love it and people who hate it. Often, the opinion of experts in the same field is so widely varied that normal users are left wondering who to trust. One such debate that rages, almost daily in some circles, is over the cloud. One well-known tech guru has recently said he’s worried about the cloud.

Mike Daisey is an American monologist who did a show about Apple’s production plant (FOXCONN) in Shenzhen China that turned out to contain false facts. In August he updated his show and even brought on a special guest, Steve Wozniak (Woz), Co-founder of Apple.

On the show, Woz talked about many things, but one of the topics resonated with the tech crowd. The topic was the security of the cloud and ownership of data and files within it. Woz stated, in no uncertain terms, that, “there are going to be a lot of horrible problems in the next five years.”

He went on to explain that the reason he felt the next few years will be tough is due to ownership of information stored in the cloud. He explained, “a lot of people feel, ‘oh, everything is really on my computer’, but I say the more we transfer everything onto the web, onto the cloud, the less we’re going to have control over it…I really worry about everything going to the cloud.”

Woz and other critics of the cloud are worried about who really owns your personal information in the cloud, and how much actual control you have over data stored on a cloud provider’s servers – aka. the cloud. The underlying issue around this reservation is the question of what will happen to all of your data if there is a massive breakdown at remote storage locations. Some users had a recent glimpse into this possibility when Amazon’s data center was struck by lightning causing cloud services like Pinterest and Instagram to be unavailable for hours. Despite the fact that the issue was fairly small, groups of people were mad at not being able to access their data.

Users may be reserved in fully trusting cloud solutions and the companies offering them but the cloud is quickly becoming a backbone to many business oriented solutions. Chances are, you are using at least one cloud service right now. Many IT companies believe that the cloud is the way to go and strive to take steps to ensure ownership of stored information is as clear as possible.

What are your thoughts on this issue? Are you worried about cloud solutions or do you embrace them? Let us know.

Imagine this: it’s almost Friday, you’re scheduled to go out of town for the next two weeks on your first vacation in over three years. You wake up Friday morning with a sore throat, by Friday afternoon you are a mess. Viruses aren’t fun, they essentially render you useless, so you can imagine that’s why a devastating impact on your computer is called a virus too.The problem is, these virus terms have created some confusion over what exactly they are.

Here’s an overview of the most commonly used terms for malicious software.

Malware – Malware is a portmanteau of malicious and software. When we, or any other IT professional, talks about malware, we are generally speaking about any software that is designed to steal information, disrupt operations or gain access to a computer or network. In tech, and indeed many news articles, malware is used as a general term. It can also be referred to in legal circles as a ‘computer contaminant’.

Virus - A virus is a malicious code that is spread from one computer to another. Computer viruses are usually introduced to a system by a user downloading and opening an infected file. They can also be spread by removable hard drives, if an infected file is put onto a drive which is then plugged into a new computer and opened. For malicious software to be labeled as a virus, it has to be spread through human action, usually in the form of the user unknowingly opening an infected file.

Trojan horse – A Trojan horse takes its name from the Greek story where a wooden horse was used to hide Greek soldiers who secretly entered Troy. In a similar way this computer virus is a program that is disguised as a useful program that when installed will do damage to your system. The severity of a Trojan horse varies from annoying to completely destructive, and while they are malicious, they will not replicate or transfer to other computers. Many modern Trojan horse programs also contain a backdoor (more on that below).

Worm – Worms are similar to a virus. In fact, many experts consider a worm to be a subclass of virus. Worms, like viruses, spread from computer to computer; the major difference being that worms can spread themselves. Computer worms also have the ability to replicate on a host system and send these copies to other users. The most common way of transmission is through email, or via a company’s network, often causing computers to run slowly while using a ton of bandwidth, ultimately leading to a system crash.

Spyware – Spyware is a malware program that captures user activity and information without the user’s knowledge or consent. Some can even go so far as to capture every single keystroke a user makes – this is commonly known as a keylogger. Spyware infects computers either through user deception (i.e., “You’ve won 1,000,000,000 dollars” ads) or through exploits in programs. Some spyware has been known to redirect users to websites or even change computer settings.

Adware – The main purpose of adware is to show ads and gain the hacker ad revenue. These ads can be pop-ups, extra banners added to web browsers, or ads shown during the installation of third party software. While generally not a form of malicious software on its own, it can, and often does, come with spyware.

Rootkit – Rootkits are all about stealth. When installed they hide themselves from detection while allowing an unauthorized user to access and control your computer. Nine times out of ten, the unauthorized user will have full administrative access, which means that if they were malicious enough, they could really do some damage.

Backdoor – Backdoors are similar to Rootkits, in that they allow an unauthorized user to access your computer. Many Trojan horses install a backdoor for the hacker to access and remotely control your system.

Bug - Some users think that a bug in software is a form of malware, placed there by the developer to ruin the program or a system. In fact, bugs aren’t malware, they are an error or fault in the software’s code. It’s true that hackers have exploited bugs to infect systems, but the bug was the way in, not the malicious software itself.

In the early days of the Internet, viruses were often installed separately from Trojans and worms. With the rising complexity and effectiveness of malware prevention software, hackers have started to blend their attacks together, often using a combination of one or more types of malicious software to infect systems. These combination malware infections are normally complex, but have been incredibly effective.

While malware is usually malicious towards single users, a new form of warfare that utilizes malware has arisen. Cyberwarfare is rumored to have been used by governments and companies to steal information or completely disrupt a countries information networks. While most Cyberwarfare is conducted at the country or conglomerate organization level, it is only a matter of time before small to medium companies are targeted.

Tools like Microsoft’s Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit (EMET), which is meant to fix bugs in Internet explorer, as well as strong anti-virus measures, timely virus scans and an efficient Internet use policy will go a long way toward preventing malware from infecting your computers. If you’re worried about the security of your computers and network, please give us a shout, we may have a solution for you.

Survival is an instinct nearly every creature has hardwired into them. You can argue that many managers or business owners feel this instinct twofold, as they fight to physically survive as well as for their business to survive. Because of this, Disaster Recovery (DR) - the act of ensuring your systems can be recovered after a disaster - has become an integral part of the survival of a business.

Here are four ways to ensure your DR plan is sufficient and company is disaster-ready.

Are your systems compliant? Many DR systems are licensed, and it’s important to ensure that these licences are both up-to-date and supported by all necessary backup systems. If you’ve added or changed components like a server or software, but not upgraded the relevant licenses, chances are your systems won’t be covered when disaster strikes. If this is the case, when you go to retrieve the backup, you’ll just get a license error; your data can’t be retrieved.

Another issue with DR software is that it’s often not used, lying dormant for years. You should regularly check and ensure the software meets modern compliance standards, is up-to-date and licenses have not expired. You should also be aware of how the software you use integrates and interacts with the DR software. For example, an upgrade to a new email server, may not communicate well with your DR software.

What’s the status of your backup server? As most DR plans usually involve a separate server from day-to-day servers, it’s important to ensure that they are functioning properly, usually by having the vendor test them. It’s also equally important to communicate with the vendors or manufacturers of the servers to ensure that the correct software/hardware licenses are in place and cover the function. If they aren’t, you could risk legal action or being fined.

Test regularly Regular tests are an integral part of a properly functioning DR plan. You need to conduct tests on at least a yearly basis to ensure all systems involved in the DR plan function well. From these tests, observe any function that performed poorly, or not at all, and take steps to fix or replace it.

Work with a knowledgeable partner DR plans and systems can be a complicated, almost messy aspect of business. While this may be, DR is crucial to the survival of a business after a disaster, and shouldn’t be treated lightly. To get it right liaise with DR experts to create and maintain a plan that meets your needs.

If you would like help with either implementing or improving your DR plan, please contact us, we may have a solution for you.

An apple, a robot, a window and a blackberry walked into a phone store…Just kidding, they represent the four major mobile systems that make up the operating systems of the smartphone world. The devices that use these OSs have sparked massive debate from pundits over which is better and on what front. One of the less popular, but more important, debates is over which device offers better security for business users.

Here’s a comparison of the security of the four most popular mobile platforms: iOS, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry.

Encryption
The ability to encrypt your phone (make the data unreadable without a key) is an important feature if you use your phone to view or store private or secure documents. Users of Android 4.0/4.1 and iOS can encrypt their device using a password. Users of Windows phone 7/7.5 have basic encryption built into the device, however, it doesn’t meet the encryption requirements of many organizations. On-device encryption will be introduced in Windows Phone 8.

BlackBerry users can encrypt their phones manually, or if they are part of a business network, the administrator of that network can set encryption on all devices. Mobile OSs, minus Windows Phone 7, and Android 2.X and earlier, have strong enough encryption to meet the needs of the majority of organizations.

While your devices can be encrypted, you should be aware that the encryption is done when the phone shuts off and powers on. If you constantly leave your device on, encryption is less effective.

Remote wipe
The ability to remotely wipe a device in case of loss is a must for many professionals. Users of BlackBerry, iOS and Windows Phone have built-in options to remotely wipe their phones through a cloud service. BlackBerry uses BlackBerry Protect, iOS uses a feature of iCloud called Find my iPhone and Windows Phone uses the Windows Phone website. Android is a bit different in that the OS doesn’t have a built-in remote wipe option, but there are apps available. With all of these systems, you log in to a website and can either lock or wipe the phone.

You should be aware that remote wipe is a last resort solution, you will loose all of your data and information. If it’s not backed up, there is no way to get it back.

Password
All devices have options to set a password or passcode to unlock the phone after it has gone to sleep. You can also set how robust the password protection is, or which form of pass protection you use to access your phone. In truth, there are more passcode options on mobile devices than most desktop environments.

Some systems have a few extra options, like the ability to trace a pattern code or using your face to unlock the phone. The stock setting of sliding to unlock should not be used by any user. At the very least you should have a four digit numerical pin to unlock your phone. If you don’t have a password on your phone, features like encryption and remote wipe are more or less useless, as your data can be easily accessed anyway.

Apps
Most security threats to mobile devices don’t come from losing your device, rather they come from apps. All mobile OSs have a place where users can download apps for their phones. Some of these are more secure than others. As BlackBerry is largely business oriented, the apps on the store are too and must meet a certain level of security before they’re posted on the store.

iOS apps are only available to download from the App Store, as part of iTunes. This allows Apple to be stringent with their rules; apps on the App Store must meet Apple’s requirements or they won’t be allowed to be sold on the store.

Windows Phone follows a process similar to Apple’s and BlackBerry’s. The developer submits their app for review, Microsoft tests the app and then either puts it on to the store, or rejects it. With the lower number of users, fewer malicious apps make it onto the store.

Android follows a more laissez faire process. Almost every app is allowed onto the Google Play store, which in turn has turned Android into a bit of a hacker’s delight. Google does monitor apps, and has started to remove malicious apps, but there are still more of these on Google Play than other app stores. That being said, the store is a lot more secure than it was even a year ago.

While OS developers tout the security and safety of apps on their app stores, each has had malicious apps make their way onto the stores. The ideal thing to do is to restrict what apps can be downloaded onto company phones by having an approved app list.

Email security
The security of email, the most common form of business communication on mobile devices is an important issue to be aware of. All mobile platforms support encryption used by the major email providers. If your company uses Microsoft Exchange or a similar server, any encryption applied at the server level is supported on the mobile level. Personal services like Google automatically encrypt email.

Device management
If you have implemented a Bring Your Own Device policy (BYOD), or issue mobile devices to employees, you need to be able to manage these devices. BlackBerry devices can all be managed by an administrator with apps, updates and security issues pushed to the phones by the administrator. At this time, the other systems support remote management, however, device management has to be done through third party solutions.

Each mobile system has pros and cons when it comes to security of related devices, and each new version brings with it better security. In truth, the devices themselves are fairly secure. To ensure a secure mobile device, multiple features and apps need to be utilized by both the user and, if necessary, the administrator/IT manager of your company. If you have questions regarding the security of your mobile device please contact us, we may have a solution for you.

It used to be fire and thieves that destroyed or stole all your precious and important possessions. While these two things still happen, the more modern equivalent is having your various Internet accounts hacked, information deleted or confidential information stolen. There are two recent cases of this happening, both involving Apple and Apple’s products, which go to show that even Apple users can be targets.

Here’s a brief overview of the two high profile Apple security breaches and seven steps you should take to prevent these from affecting you.

Mat Honan’s problem
Mat Honan is a writer for Wired, who in early August had nearly his whole digital life wiped off the map. His article on Wired is a fantastic and scary read, we highly recommend it. To summarize, he had the majority of his website accounts linked together, with one account linked to many. Hackers were able to get into his iCloud account by taking advantage of Apple’s lax password reset.

To begin with, the hacker wanted to take Honan’s Twitter account. They noticed that he had a Gmail account linked to Twitter, and from there was able to find that an Apple account was linked to the Gmail account, as a secondary account. To get access to the Apple account, they reset the password, which requires a billing address and the last 4 digits of the card registered to that account. The card number came from hacking into Honan’s Amazon account, which shows the last 4 digits of the card.

From there, it was a simple step of resetting the Apple account and shortly thereafter the Gmail password, sending the Gmail reset to the registered Apple account address (the secondary address on the Gmail account). Once in control of the Gmail account, asking Twitter to reset the password using the Gmail account and Bob’s your uncle, the hacker had access to the Twitter account.

Apple UDID leaks
In early September infamous hacker group Antisec, related to the hacker group Anonymous, released over 1 million Apple UDIDs. A UDID, Unique Device Identifier, is the code Apple applies to all devices to be able to identify them. Upon the release of the UDIDs, Antisec announced that they had come from a breached laptop, owned by the FBI, and that the FBI was using the UDIDs to track users.

While it’s not known exactly where the breach came from, security experts have been able to prove, to a 98% surety rate, that the UDIDs came from Blue Toad, an app developer that had a digital breach previous to the release of the UDIDs. Blue Toad’s CEO has come forward acknowledging the leak and noted that the company is sure the info came from them, and not the FBI.

While it can be alarming that UDID were out there, users can be assured that passwords were not exposed, as the UDID tends to store information like account name, phone number and address. Yes, contact information is out there, which might raise concerns,  but don’t kid yourself, this information, or most of it, is already readily available on the Internet anyway.

With these two, fairly serious incidents, iPhone users are right to be a little wary, and should be taking steps to insure their information is secure. Related to these two events, here’s seven steps you can take to minimize the chances of this happening to you:

• Unlink all essential accounts from one another.
• Set up an email account that’s only used for other account resets.
• Regularly back up all your devices onto a secure hard disk.
• Change your password regularly and use two-factor authentication if available.
• Don’t have the same username or password for all accounts.
• If the information isn’t necessary for your account don’t provide it.
• Delete and never store any credit card numbers.

If you have any questions or concerns about the security of your accounts or systems, please don’t hesitate to call us.

Clark Kent: star reporter for the Daily Planet and always one of the first reporters to break the news. To many, Clark Kent is more commonly known as Superman. If Superman had an email address, it’d be a sure thing that he’d take steps to ensure it remains secure and out of the hands of criminals. Do you echo what superman would do and protect your email address?

Failing online protection from a superhero here’s five things you can do to ensure your email address is properly protected.

Give your email a disguise
Superheros often protect their identity through the use of a disguise. We’re not saying you need to dress up in spandex, go out and search for spammers/scammers to beat down, or prevent from getting your email. Instead, you should be aware of how scammers operate – largely by writing programs that search websites for email addresses – and disguise your email from this.

Many programs look for traditional emails like imthebatman@gmail.com, so to disguise your email, spell it out: imthebatmanATgmailDOTcom or, imthebatman(DELETETHIS)@gmailDOTcom. People are smart enough to figure out that the AT and DOT are actually @, . or to delete (DELETETHIS). You’d be surprised at how much this will cut down on spam.

Protect your email’s identity
Aside for a disguise, superheroes will often go to great lengths to protect their identity. You should do the same with your email address. When signing up for a new service, forum, or anything that requires a username, don’t use your email as the username. If possible, don’t use your email address at all.

You should also read the Privacy Statements of all websites you have accounts with. Yes, there is lots of legal speak and they are long, but thats to get the user to scroll to the bottom of the document and hit accept. Look for clauses regarding your email, and note any companies that say they reserve the rights to sell your email to advertisers or aren’t held liable for stolen information, as you can ensure that your email will be spammed.

Beyond that, many websites allow you to hide your email address from other users. It’s highly recommended that you do this and an option to do so can usually be found in the Account Options or Account Security sections of your user profile on websites.

Don’t respond to flashy requests
When a superhero is not out fighting crime, they’re off cultivating and maintaining their alter-ego. They hardly do anything outside of their normal character, and normally won’t respond to flashy requests for super luxury balls (unless you’re Bruce Wayne or Tony Stark of course). If you get an email that sounds too good to be true, such as announcing that you’ve won something spectacular, it’s a good idea to not open or respond to it, as chances are near 100% that it’s a scam or simply aimed at getting your email address or other information.

Get your email a side-kick
Some superheroes have sidekicks that help them fight crime or solve mysteries. We recommend that you get your main email a sidekick and sign up for a separate email that you use for online shopping, forum registration and basically anything that’s non-work/family/friends related.

Take a picture of your email
In numerous Spider-Man story arcs, Peter Parker is tasked with taking pictures of Spider-Man. Of course, being Spider-man, all he has to do is take a picture of himself and people seem to be happy with that. As many spam programs don’t take information from pictures, it’s a good idea to make your email addresses into a picture that you place onto email signatures, or into the body of the email itself.

The easiest way to do this is open MS Paint, (if you have a windows machine), or an online image creator like pixlr and type your email address into the image, resize so it just fits the font and hit save. The best format to save it as is a .jpeg, as it can be easily read by Internet browsers and email programs. Most email programs will allow you to put an image into your signature, typically done under Settings.

You don’t have to be a superhero to protect your email, just take these precautionary steps and your important email addresses will be as safe as any superhero’s true identity. If you’d like to learn more about staying secure while surfing the Internet, please contact us, and we will come to your aid.

One of the more popular trends companies are adopting is virtualization, moving from physical systems to cloud/server based systems. Desktop virtualization, the act of moving your desktop computers from a physical to virtual environment is a type of virtualization that’s gaining more popularity. When it comes to this trend though some companies are apprehensive about how secure virtual environments are.

In general, you can do nearly everything on a virtual desktop that you can do with a physical desktop. The majority of office oriented software now has versions that operate in the cloud, or give administrators the ability to install the program on one machine and license it out to other machines.

The largest difference between the two systems comes in the form of security. Virtual desktops are susceptible to the exact same security issues as their physical counterparts, but they also have a few extra potential problems which are unique to virtual machines. The biggest security issue with virtual desktops comes in the form of access. With physical machines, you can lock an office door which will usually prevent people from physically accessing the machine. With virtual machines you are not able to do this. Anyone with access and a password can get onto the machine.

While this may sound like a deterrence to the adoption of virtual desktops, users should be aware that vendors are aware of this issue and have adopted measures to ensure their products are safe. In fact, if implemented properly, virtual desktops are often safer.

To ensure safety of data and machines virtual desktops need to be implemented in a specific manner. For example, some solutions will create a new environment every time you need to access a different system. This is like starting with a blank slate, with unnecessary data being deleted when you log off. Users won’t be able to customize their workspace, but it can help stave off problems of errant downloading, or installation of unnecessary programs.

Other systems allow users to customize their workspace, but save the changes in a separate location when the user logs off. This keeps any changes made to the base system easy to keep track of, and it’s easier to spot security problems, while keeping them local.

If you’re looking into virtualizing your office’s desktops, we strongly recommend you work with an experienced IT partner who can help deploy a system that meets your needs, while remaining safe. We can help with virtualization, so why not give us a call?

The Internet is a magical thing; a gateway or connection to the rest of the world. Currently, the Internet is quick enough to do nearly anything without delay, and as such, companies have come to expect Internet connections to always be fast. The truth is, connection speed varies widely, and this can create problems for many companies.

Have you noticed that from time to time the Internet is a lot slower than it should be? If so, this could be because something is hogging all the bandwidth, which is the rate at which data is transferred in and out of one connection. Here are six of the most common bandwidth hogs.

1. YouTube. If you allow employees to watch YouTube or connect to other streaming services, and they are using it frequently, you’ll notice a significant decrease in overall Internet speed. Some companies have noted that 40 staff using YouTube will account for over half of the total bandwidth usage.
2. FTP sites. Some companies run FTP sites that host essential files that employees can download. When more employees are downloading/uploading files to the FTP site there’s less bandwidth available for other operations, so the Internet will be slower.
3. P2P. P2P covers a large number of aspects including video conferencing and sharing of files via programs such as BitTorrent. All P2P services use an incredibly large amount of bandwidth when in operation, slowing the Internet to a point where speeds from 10 years ago were faster.
4. Online backup. Backing up essential files will capitalize bandwidth leaving very little for other operations. It’s a good idea to conduct backups after office hours to minimize interruptions.
5. Encryption. In certain industries regulatory bodies require a certain level of encryption, or for companies to take certain steps to secure data. Any extra encryption or security features will slow sites down, however this usually cannot be avoided.
6. Spam/Virus/Malware. As many scams aim at stealing information the main way this is done is by sending the information over an Internet connection, that is your Internet connection. If you have viruses or other security threats you can guarantee that your Internet will be slower.

If you notice your Internet is slowing down at certain times, it’s a good idea to check and see if any of these six bandwidth hogs are in action. You can:

• conduct a virus scan to look for malware;
• ensure your computers aren’t backing up and if they are schedule the backup for later;
• turn off or block any and all sharing services, and schedule video conferencing for times when bandwidth isn’t needed by other functions; and,
• limit the bandwidth assigned to YouTube and other streaming services.

Before you tinker with any network connections though, it’s best to contact an expert . We may not just be able to help, but potentially provide an even better solution for you, speeding up your connection and your business success.