21Oct 2021 by nathan

Windows 11, time to install / upgrade?

CTC NEWS, Industry News, Tech news
Microsoft recently released Windows 11, it's latest flagship desktop operating system as a "free" upgrade and are aggressively recommending that users with potentially compatible hardware upgrade. Our standard policy with any major upgrade (operating system or otherwise) is to wait until at least the first major update to the product (service pack, feature update, etc.), until there's a need (your productivity software requires it, etc.) or the current version is being retired. If you are a home / residential user, the potential risk is generally low. The worst case is often that a piece of hardware (often a graphics or audio device) is not supported by the new version. Checking the system requirements will typically tell you if you'll run into problems or not (not always) but the "free" software…
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14Oct 2021 by nathan

October 2021 News & Updates

CTC NEWS, Industry News, Monthly Newsletters, Tech news
Microsoft and Apple (oddly enough) released updates to bugs that are being actively attacked. Adobe released updates to a number of products including Reader, Acrobat, Commerce and Connect.The MyIT Program is proving to be a huge win for clients who are signing up for or renewing their Ransomware / Cyber Insurance plans. The MyIT Program is designed to address those important (but, sometimes, not as urgent) issues that seem to go undone until there's a problem (like testing your backup before a ransomware attack). In many cases, the regular maintenance items addressed by the MyIT Silver program address all of these (and more). Two things that really set the MyIT Program apart from other MSP type offerings is that a) there is no term agreement, cancel at any time and…
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04Oct 2021 by nathan

Global outage impacting Facebook, Instagram, ZoHo and others

CTC NEWS, Industry News, Tech news
Details are still a bit sketchy but there's currently a global outage that's impacting major sites including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, ZoHo and others. Additional details are below. https://downdetector.com/ https://www.northcentralpa.com/business/worldwide-internet-outage-takes-out-everything-almost/article_3f9d605c-252b-11ec-8ec2-771391c82d6e.html https://nypost.com/2021/10/04/facebook-instagram-and-whatsapp-hit-by-global-outage/
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16Sep 2021 by nathan

September 2021 News & Updates

CTC NEWS, Industry News, Monthly Newsletters, Tech news
Executive Summary Lots going on in September including updates from the usual suspects (Microsoft and Adobe) but also a couple of significant releases from Apple and Chrome this month. Test your backup - Many organizations, especially in the wake of so many ransomware attacks, have implemented backups. Few though think to test those backups to make sure that they're working. Simply restoring something from the backup to make certain that a) the backup is running and b) you can recover what it's backing up is usually sufficient. If you don't have a backup or aren't sure when the last time it was tested (if ever) was, we'd love to help. A monthly test of your backup is included as part of all of our MyIT Plans.Cyber Risk Insurance - If…
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30Aug 2021 by nathan

Closed Monday, 6 September 2021 for Labor Day

CTC NEWS
We will be closed on Monday, 6 September 2021 to enjoy the Labor Day holiday with friends, family and loved ones and will reopen during normal business hours on Tuesday, 7 September 2021.  Emergency support will be available for our commercial 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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22Jun 2021 by nathan
Closed 5 July 2021

Closed 5 July 2021

CTC NEWS
Cyber Tech Cafe will be closed on Monday, 5 July 2021 to celebrate Independence Day and enjoy time with family, friends and loved ones. Emergency support will be available for commercial 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. Please note that holiday rates will apply. Any non-emergency support requests will be addressed in the order they were received on Tuesday, 6 July 2021.
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14Jun 2021 by nathan

June 2021 News & Updates

CTC NEWS, Industry News, Monthly Newsletters, Tech news
Executive Summary So far, June 2021 is a bit of a reprieve from the massive oil pipeline breach that we were looking at this time just a month ago. That said, there are a couple of things to keep your eyes on. Threat actors, including nation states, are targeting vaccine and virology organizations as well as pharmaceutical companies. If you're in these verticals or do business with these verticals (supply chain, customers, etc.), be on the lookout for targeted attacks.Multiple significant bugs patchedMicrosoft patched six zero-day vulnerabilities, including a Remote Code Execution (RCE) vulnerability and a privilege escalation vulnerability that are being actively exploited in the wild.Threat actors are evolving - According to this article, the bad guys seem to be doing a better job of applying lessons learned to…
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19May 2021 by nathan

May 2021 News & Updates

CTC NEWS, Industry News, Monthly Newsletters
Executive Summary May 2021 is proving to be a busy month (already) from a technology perspective. Between massive ransomware attacks on critical infrastructure (and $5M USD ransoms paid) to newly patched wormable vulnerabilities (that could easily be weaponized and used against other critical infrastructure targets) to the latest Windows Feature Release, IT Pros have certainly been tested. Regular site visits return - When we saw the potential for a fuel shortage and the subsequent rush on gas stations, we halted all non-critical site visits. With the fuel supply stabilizing, I'm happy to report that site visits are back to normal.Enhanced Patch Management - Cyber Security impacting the physical world - We have two cases where cyber attacks had real world impacts on the physical worldColonial Pipeline Breach - Details are…
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12May 2021 by nathan

Enhanced Patch Management Reboot Prompt

CTC NEWS, Tech news
Your computer may need to be rebooted for some important updates to be installed. Failing to restart and / or install these updates can leave your computer and the network of devices that it's connected to open and vulnerable to attacks like ransomware, viruses, data theft and more. Our Enhanced Patch Management system can install updates for more than 300 programs and applications and, if there is a need to restart, will prompt you to restart now (with a 60 minute countdown timer) and give you the option to postpone the restart for 4 or 6 hours or the next time that you log out. The default is to "Restart Now" with a 60 minute countdown timer. If no action is taken, the computer will restart and the updates will…
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