December 2024 News & Updates

CTC NEWS, Industry News, Monthly Newsletters, Tech news
Policy Update - Starting 1 January 2025, a 3% surcharge will be added to any credit card payment of $1,000 or more. Additional information is available on our policies and procedures page here. New Email Security Partner - We are excited to announce our new partnership with Proofpoint and the Proofpoint Essentials email security platform. The Proofpoint platform includes basic email security features similar to what we were able to offer through AppRiver and adds an impressive array of additional features including seamless integration with Microsoft 365 and Exchange, email encryption, Data Loss Protection (DLP), Social Media protection, Security Awareness Training, One-Click Message Pull to remove malicious emails from user inboxes, emergency mailbox access and more. We will continue supporting clients wishing to remain with AppRiver but are happy to…
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Please check your AppRiver Billing

Industry News, Tech news
Cyber Tech Cafe has used and recommended AppRiver for email filtering (SPAM, phishing, malware, etc.), email encryption, Hosted Exchange, Microsoft 365, cloud to cloud back and more since approximately 2007.  One of the many things that kept us with AppRiver was that it was a relatively local company (based in Florida, US) with unbelievable customer service.  In the last few years though, AppRiver has gone through a number of ownership changes (AppRiver was acquired by Zix who was subsequently acquired by OpenText) and many of the things that drew us to and kept us with AppRiver are changing.  One change that was recently brought to our attention may impact pricing to our customers.  We don't have access to the AppRiver billing information so we aren't able to check / verify…
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November 2024 News and Updates

CTC NEWS, Industry News, Monthly Newsletters, Tech news
Upcoming End of Life for Windows 10 - We're officially under one year before the Windows 10 End of Life (EOL), currently scheduled for 14 October 2025. Prior to that date, you will need to make certain that all Windows 10 computers are either upgraded (Windows 11 Requirements) or replaced. Additional information is available from Microsoft here. Holiday Schedule Thanksgiving - We will be closed Thursday, 28 November and Friday, 29 November 2024 for the Thanksgiving holiday and the office will open for regular business hours on Monday, 2 December 2024. Christmas - We will be closed Tuesday, 24 December and Wednesday, 25 December 2024 for the Christmas holiday and the office will open for regular business hours on Thursday, 26 December 2024. New Year - We will be closed…
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Happy Thanksgiving from Cyber Tech Cafe

CTC NEWS
Cyber Tech Cafe would like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! We will be closed on Thursday, 28 November 2024 and Friday, 29 November 2024 to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday with family, friends and loved ones. Any non-emergency support requests will be responded to on a first come, first served basis on Monday, 2 December 2024. Emergency support is available for our commercial and MyIT customer by choosing the emergency support option when via phone or by including the word "Emergency" in the subject. Please note the holiday rate will apply. From all of us here at Cyber Tech Cafe, we wish you and  yours a Happy Thanksgiving! Nathan and Kristy Underwood
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Email sent to Microsoft 365 is being incorrectly marked as phishing (Issue ID: EX921449)

CTC NEWS, Industry News
Microsoft has confirmed a bug in the Microsoft 365 Exchange component where emails to some users are being incorrectly marked as phishing emails and, in many cases, automatically deleted. Microsoft is aware of the issue and has taken measures to correct it but the issue is ongoing while the fix is moving through the Microsoft environment. This issue is impacting some emails into our helpdesk. We have taken steps to mitigate it but if you send an email to our helpdesk and do not get a response or acknowledgement within one hour, please call our office directly. I apologize for any inconvenience but, at this time, I believe that we are just waiting on the fix from Microsoft to make it's way through the Microsoft 365 environment but will post…
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October 2024 News & Updates

CTC NEWS, Industry News, Monthly Newsletters
Apple / Mac Security Updates - Once again, Apple is releasing an update to it's Mac OS 15 Sequoia to address a bug in last month's update that broke a number of security tools from vendors like CrowdStrike, SentinelOne and Microsoft. Basically, if you've got an Apple device, update it :) Project Lazarus - After the initial client testing of the Project Lazarus boot disk, the consensus is that it's not viable for non-technical users. The plan at this point is to keep it for internal use and we can provide a copy to any MyIT clients that would like one but the bulk rollout to all MyIT clients will likely be suspended. Client Forms - In an effort to make requesting support easier for common tasks (onboarding and offboarding…
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Preparing for inclement weather

CTC NEWS
Due to the anticipated arrival of inclement weather from Hurricane Helene, the state of Georgia is under a State of Emergency. No closures or scheduling changes are planned at this time but we will be monitoring power, weather and road conditions as the storm moves through the area and updating plans as needed to ensure the health and safety of our team. If there are any schedule changes or closures, we will post updates to our website here and to our social media (Facebook and X).
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September 2024 News and Updates

CTC NEWS, Industry News, Monthly Newsletters, Tech news
Apple / Mac Security Updates - In addition to the usual suspects, significant security updates have been released by Apple for multiple products including iOS / iPadOS 17.7, iOS / iPadOS 18, MacOS 13.7, 14.7 and 15, tvOS 18, watchOS 11, visionOS 2 and more. Additional info is available from CISA here. Basically, if you've got an Apple device, update it :) Microsoft Recall - The short version is that Microsoft Recall is apparently not as dead as we thought (hoped) that it was and I've not seen anyone state this better than Brian Krebs here. "...But last week, the software giant clarified that what it really meant was that the ability to disable Recall was a bug/feature in the preview version of Copilot+ that will not be available to…
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Closed 2 September 2024 for Labor Day

CTC NEWS
We will be closed on Monday, 2 September 2024 to enjoy the Labor Day holiday with friends, family and loved ones and will reopen during normal business hours on Tuesday, 3 September 2024.  Emergency support will be available for our commercial and MyIT clients.  If you need emergency support on Monday, simply include the word 'emergency' in the subject of your email to help@ctc.co or by noting it in your voicemail at 770.386.8900.
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August 2024 News and Updates

CTC NEWS, Industry News, Monthly Newsletters
Labor Day - Cyber Tech Cafe will be closed on Monday, 2 September 2024 in observance of Labor Day. CrowdStrike - I've had a lot of conversations with folks on this and believe that, in addition to the takeaways in the original post, there are three things that could have been done different. First, test the changes before you deploy it. In the case of the CrowdStrike incident, that likely would have saved the day. Second, fail gracefully. The bug caused an error at a very low level in Windows that prevented Windows from booting and required physical access to impacted systems to revive them. The fix was a very simple fix but it required physical access. Allowing the application to fail gracefully so that the systems was able to…
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