Sublime Computer Services - New Website and Pictures

I hope that you are having a great summer.  I was able to take a relaxing summer vacation this year with my family.  It was nice knowing that the Robin, Mike and Joe were holding down the fort.  Now I am getting back to the grindstone.  

I have been working on new things.   

Website Update:

I have updated our website completely.  The old one lasted almost 6 years.  Check out the new site and let me know what you think.

http://www.sublimecomp.com/

As part of the website update, I updated our pictures as well.

Newsletter Implementation:

I am committed to sending out a monthly newsletter.  You should have received a printed version for July.  If you did not please let me know and I will make sure that you do.  

Here is the link to download the PDF.

July 2014 Newsletter - Click Me

Disaster Recovery Planning:

We are working on complete office disaster recovery planning.  We have implemented our complete offsite disaster recovery for our clients' servers.  Now we are working on the rest of the office plan.  If you haven't talked to me about what you would do if your office were completely gone and how you would get back in business please call me.

Disaster Recovery Planning - Click Me

Have a blessed rest of the summer!!

Adam Bell

Senior Systems / Network EngineerSublime Computer ServicesWe make your technology work
615-942-0850www.sublimecomp.com

What to Do with that Junk Computer?

What should you do with that old computer in the closet?  You know that you shouldn't throw it away because it has old files on it. People tell you that hackers are waiting for you to throw it away so they can get your data.  So you just hold onto it.  Here are a two suggestions that will make you feel extra tech savvy.

Wipe the disks clean with a utility or physically destroy the hard drives.

• Wipe the disks

Dariks Boot an Nuke will allow you to create a bootable disk that will allow you to wipe the hard drive on your old computer.  It will take many hours to complete but it will remove all trace of your data from the computer.  Once it is complete you can throw that computer away.

Dariks Boot and Nuke - http://www.dban.org/

• Remove the hard drive and physically destroy it.

This sounds like more fun.  You want to destroy data.  Let's do it.  I am going to give a brief tutorial on locating the hard drive and destroying it.  Do not attempt this if you think you might want to use this computer again.  There are a lot of computer designs.  Yours may not be designed exactly like my example.  

Put that old computer up on your workbench and figure out how to open it.  There may be screws or latches.  You should not require a hammer, but it may be therapeutic.

Once you have the case opened you will need to locate the hard drive.  I have labelled the guts of my example to help you locate the hard drive.

You will need to disconnect the cables connected to the hard drive and maybe some screws or latches to release it.

Once you have the hard drive removed you can find your favorite method of destroying it.  Hard drives are actually very delicate.  You can magnetize it, drill holes through it, soak it in a bucket of salty water, target practice with it, disassemble it.  I had a friend run over one with a car.  While it did crush a lot of the drive I don't think it is a very effective method.

I have a very old electromagnet that I can use for  hard drives.  I used to use it to wipe 5.25" floppies for my Tandy 1000.

I am going to disassemble the hard drive for this blog.  

In most cases there are 7 hex screws that have to be removed.  6 that you can see and 1 hidden.  You may have to purchase some hex heads to remove the screws they are small.  I purchase mine from Ifixit (http://www.ifixit.com/Store/Tools).

Here is a fuzzy picture of the screw.

Here are the bits

Now lets open this drive.  The hidden screw is right under the warranty disclaimer.

Once you get the cover off you see this.  This particular hard drive is bad but it could likely be repaired.  A hard drive works soft of like a record player.  It looks like the arm got stuck.  It likely killed bits where it sits but the majority of the data is probably intact.  Some companies will take these platters out of the hard drive and put them back into another for disaster recovery services.  It is not cheap but it can be done.

Now start taking out the screws

These are actually very strong magnets.  Be careful with them.  They will ruin a phone, memory card, monitor, other hard drives.  

These screws are holding the platter locked together

Here is a pile of the carnage

You can use the platters for wind chimes or something shiny.  I usually keeps the magnets and run them over the disks to make them unusable.  You could additionally scratch up the platters with a screw driver before putting them in the trash/recycle bin.    If you didn't do anything to damage the platters someone could (Highly unlikely) put it all back together again and get the data.  

You can now put that computer out on trash day.

Adam Bell
Senior Systems / Network Engineer
Sublime Computer Services
We make your technology work

615-942-0850
adam@sublimecomp.com
www.sublimecomp.com

What to Do Now that Windows XP Support has Ended

I have been asked by others what they should expect and what they should do now that Windows XP has expired.  It is time to replace that Operating System or that computer.  Ultimately we all have to upgrade to a new Operating System.  Unfortunately the hardware on which your current Windows XP OS is running is probably too slow to run Windows 7 or 8.  (don't even think Vista)

Here are some options that you will need to consider:

• Make sure that you have good Backups of all of the things that you care about on your computer.
• Buy a new computer with Windows 7 or 8
• I do not personally like Windows 8, however I am using it right now.
• If you HATE change and you are going to curse Microsoft for every change, then you should go with Windows 7.  Keep in mind that it will retire at some point too.
• If you are going to get a new reliable computer that is going to last you another 5 years, then you are going to spend ~$1100 when you include the Microsoft Office 2013 ($200)
• You could also go with Office 365 and spread out that Microsoft Office Payment
• If you are really mad at Microsoft and you want to give Linux a try on your old computer now is a good time.
• Ubuntu is my favorite Linux distribution
• http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop
• If you have any Windows applications that you have to use, then this is not the way to go despite virtual machines.
• Google Chrome OS has made good strides with their Chromebook.
• Chromebook is an inexpensive laptop that has Chrome’s flavor of the Chromium OS.  It utilizes Google Apps in an attempt to replace all things Microsoft
• http://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/devices/
• At Sublime Computer Services we have embraced Google Apps and run the enterprise on it.
• If you have any Windows applications that you have to use, then this is not the way to go despite virtual machines.
• You could even go with a Mac since you are making the change.  The drawback of Mac is that they are not cheap and they are as flexible as Microsoft.
• If you have any Windows applications that you have to use, then this is not the way to go despite parallels.

Here are some additional articles that others have posted:

Windows Xp Support has ended

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/en-us/xp/end-of-xp-support.aspx

Survive the XPocalypse: 10 Tips to Keep Running It Safely

http://www.tomsguide.com/us/10-tips-safely-run-windows-xp,news-18571.html

Windows XP: What to expect once Microsoft shuts down support

http://www.zdnet.com/windows-xp-what-to-expect-once-microsoft-shuts-down-support-7000025348/

Windows XP Goes Dark: 5 Things To Expect

http://www.informationweek.com/software/operating-systems/windows-xp-goes-dark-5-things-to-expect/d/d-id/1127665

Windows 8.1 - System Image Backups

Windows 8.1 will allow users to perform a full system image backup.  It is a backup of the entire computer.  The good thing is that you can recover from a virus or a hard drive failure.  

Here is how to setup the system backup.

Here are the drawbacks of the Windows 8.1 System Image Backup:

• You can only keep one backup
• You cannot schedule the backup job to happen automatically

Windows 7 allowed you to schedule automatic backups and made incremental backups.

I like to backup my computer daily.  I am currently using StorageCraft's Shadow Protect.  I used to use Acronis.

Here is how you can restore a System Image Backup:

1/3 of the way down the page.

http://www.howtogeek.com/167984/how-to-create-and-restore-system-image-backups-on-windows-8.1/

Windows 8.1 File History - Backups

Do you need to backup your files in Windows 8.1?  Microsoft changed the way we do backups again.

Utilizing File History a user can backup his/her user files to an external drive.  File History allows the user to set it up and forget it.  File History is not a comprehensive backup program it is very easy for the end user to configure.

Here is a 5 minute video that shows how to setup and use the File History backups in Windows 8.1:

Phone Scams Seem to be on the Rise

I want to let you know that scammers are trying to utilize the phone systems to get your money.  They are calling your office and letting you know that you have some kind of computer problem.  They try to tell you that you have a virus or your computer has been hacked.  They try to get you to go to websites or go to obscure settings on your computer to prove that you computer problems.  I received a phone call from one of these scammers last week they said that they were Microsoft.  I was in an odd mood and I stayed on the line with him and messed with him for 4 minutes.  At the end of the phone call he called me a couple of bad words and hung up on me.

Here is another call where Thinkgeek really messed with them.  http://www.howtogeek.com/180514/

I had a client call me today and let me know that they had a call from Comcast saying that they had a server that was sending out spam from a NTP server.  When the tech support person sent the "official" email of the problem to the client it was sent from a Gmail account.  

I had another client who had one of their clients send them an email to redirect money to a different bank.  Their clients' email was compromised and the scammer was reading their normal conversations and fooled them.

Here are my recommendations:

• Be SKEPTICAL without being rude
• Do not share your email passwords and keep them complex
• Do NOT use POP email - the passwords are transmitted in clear text with every email
• Secure your mobile devices with a password
• If someone calls you check the caller ID
• If you don't know what they are saying is true, then get their number and we will call them back.
• Don't let someone that you don't know login to your computer.
• Read emails carefully.  
• I have received scam emails from:  Banks, Intuit, Microsoft, IRS and many other businesses that we know.
• Do not install toolbars or any programs or games that you do not need on your computer.  
• If you are running Quickbooks or other financial programs on your computer I suggest that is all that you do on that computer.

Microsofts warning concerning scammers - http://www.microsoft.com/security/online-privacy/avoid-phone-scams.aspx

Here is the email that my client received today:

From: Jeremy C [mailto:csatech278@gmail.com]

Sent: Tuesday, January 28, 2014 3:17 PM

To: xxxx@gmail.com

Subject: NTP server issue

A public NTP server on your network, running on IP address 50.197.243.26, p=

articipated in a very large-scale attack against a customer of ours today, =

generating UDP responses to spoofed "monlist" requests that claimed to be f=

rom the attack target.

Please consider reconfiguring this NTP server in one or more of these ways:

1. If you run ntpd, upgrading to the latest version, which removes the "mon=

list" command that is used for these attacks; alternately, disabling the mo=

nitoring function by adding "disable monitor" to your /etc/ntp.conf file.

2. Setting the NTP installation to act as a client only. With ntpd, that ca=

n be done with "restrict default ignore" in /etc/ntp.conf; other daemons sh=

ould have a similar configuration option. More information on configuring d=

ifferent devices can be found here: https://www.team-cymru.org/ReadingRoom/=

Templates/secure-ntp-template.html.

3. Adjusting your firewall or NTP server configuration so that it only serv=

es your users and does not respond to outside IP addresses.

If you don't mean to run a public NTP server, we recommend #1 and #2. If yo=

u do mean to run a public NTP server, we recommend #1, and also that you ra=

te-limit responses to individual source IP addresses -- silently discarding=

those that exceed a low number, such as one request per IP address per sec=

ond. Rate-limit functionality is built into many recently-released NTP daem=

ons, including ntpd, but needs to be enabled; it would help with different =

types of attacks than this one.

Fixing open NTP servers is important; with the 456x amplification factor of=

NTP DRDoS attacks -- one 40-byte-long request generates 18252 bytes worth =

of response traffic -- it only takes one machine on an unfiltered 1 Gbps li=

nk to create a 450 Gbps attack!

If you are an ISP, please also look at your network configuration and make =

sure that you do not allow spoofed traffic (that pretends to be from extern=

al IP addresses) to leave the network. Hosts that allow spoofed traffic mak=

e possible this type of attack.

Further reading:

https://cert.litnet.lt/en/docs/ntp-distributed-reflection-dos-attacks

https://isc.sans.org/forums/diary/NTP+reflection+attack/17300

http://www.symantec.com/connect/blogs/hackers-spend-christmas-break-launchi=

ng-large-scale-ntp-reflection-attacks

Cyptolocker Virus

The "Cryptolocker Virus" has gotten a lot of press lately.  It is a bad thing but it is not a new thing.  We have cleaned up a few of these.  We have also seen files encrypted and lost forever.  The virus gets installed by downloading a picture or .PDF.  It can come from anywhere.  Users get tricked into running and installing a program.  The people who spread this virus are very tricky and I would not wag my finger at a user telling them that it was all their own fault and they should know better.  The virus comes along as emails for UPS delivery notifications, Intuit Payroll confirmations and Late notifications from a bank just to name a few.    It can also be embedded into websites where simply browsing the page prompts users to install it.  They do a good job of making it look legit.  

The worst thing is that this virus can do is lock down your files by encryption.  When this happens your files are gone.  If you pay these people the money for the decryption code, then do you think they are going to give you the code?  They are criminals after all.

You can read more technical details here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CryptoLocker

The only protection is to have daily backups of your files.  We offer that as a service and we will give you your files back if your computer seizes and dies.

Thanks,

Adam Bell
Senior Systems / Network Engineer
Sublime Computer Services
We make your technology work

615-942-0850
adam@sublimecomp.com
www.sublimecomp.com