critical fact you need to know to keep yourself safe online … · 2014-06-27 · why seo is...
TRANSCRIPT
Drop Off Locations
True Value, St. Henry
Ace Hardware, Coldwater
Wangler Ace, Ft Recovery
To receive this newsletter
electronically, please go to:
http://subscribe.ttecht.com
3241 St. Rt. 118
St. Henry, OH 45883
419.678.4600
1 for Sales
2 for Support
3 for Web D&D
To speak to someone directly,
use the following extensions:
Josie Wendel Project Manager
x101
Bonnie Homan Business Manager / Controller
x100
George Staver Sr. Systems & Network Engineer
X103
Tony Westgerdes Service Manager/Systems Engineer
x102
Pat Adams Business & Applications Engineer
x305
Lisa Niekamp-Urwin, PMP President
X105
August
2013
Despite all of my nagging about online security, computer users never seem to give enough attention to online security and protection UNTIL a virus or a hacker renders their computer useless or destroys their data. Once this happens, it can be very expensive if not impossible to repair the damages done.
If you own a computer that is connected to the Internet without proper firewall and security measures set up, it’s only a matter of time before a worm, virus, hacker, or spyware takes over your computer.
Cyber criminals lurk everywhere on the Internet and are constantly figuring out new ways to access your personal and financial information. Even legitimate Web sites have sophisticated methods of snooping, such as cookies and spyware, that track your identity, browsing habits, and personal information.
This month, I thought I would take some time to outline a huge threat to you online, and show you how you can keep your private information from falling into the wrong hands. The Threat: Hackers
Small business owners and home users tend to think that because they are “just a small business” or “just a home user” no one would waste time trying to hack in to their computer. Nothing could be further from the truth. Just recently I conducted exper-iments were I connected a single com-puter to the Internet with no firewall. Within hours, over 13 gigabytes of space were taken over with malicious code and files that I could not delete. Hackers are malicious individuals who prey on unsus-pecting computer users who have not properly secured their PC from outside access.
These cyber criminals run scanning programs over the Internet to find computers with electronic openings, called ports. Once they find such an opening, they have as much access to your computer as you do. That means your online banking, personal data, pass-words, family data, and files. Often the goal of these intruders is to install a Trojan horse to your hard drive. Here are some of the tell tale signs that your computer has been hacked:
Mysterious files suddenly start appearing.
Your CD drawer starts opening and closing by itself.
You get constant runtime errors in MS Outlook/Outlook Express.
You find e-mails in your sent items folder that you didn't send.
Some of your files are moved or deleted.
Icons on your desktop or toolbars are blank or missing.
Your mouse feels sluggish, like someone else is trying to control it.
The best protection from a hacker is a good firewall. When properly set up, a firewall will make your computer invisible to the scanners and prevent hackers from accessing your computer.
Check out our GREAT deal on the bottom of page 3 to help keep you safe online!
A CRITICAL Fact You Need to Know
to Keep Yourself Safe Online
TTechT News Why You NEED Firewall
When you leave your home or car for a period of time, do you lock your doors? Of course. Doing so gives you a sense of security. Your property won't be an easy mark for thieves. The same is necessary for your computer; your internet connection leaves you vulnerable to hackers who want to access your financial and personal information. Some hackers may be after your high-speed connection so that they can send malicious viruses and worms, blackening your reputation. Other intruders have the power to destroy your operating system on a whim. How can you lock that computer door but still have the freedom to do your business online? A solid firewall will help you stop intruders from accessing your system. You keep your in-ternet link to the outside world but the outside world can't view you unless you want them to. With a firewall in place you will still have typical email access, but chat and other interactive programs will require you to take an extra step to grant access before you can use them. A firewall is powerful but unobtrusive, just like a deadbolt lock inside a door. But unlike a single door to a home, the path to your computer data has two doorways. Some of your data is stored on a physical media storage device such as a hard drive, optical disk, thumb drive or some other form of media. The other method is your computer memory. An open door on either of these storage methods leaves your network and your data vulnerable. Some of the most common methods to attack or view computer data include:
IP Spoofing - This form of attack occurs when someone outside your network spoofs (fools) your computer into recognizing the intruder as a trusted source--either a trusted internal source (by using an IP address that is within the range of IP addresses in your network) or a trusted external IP address that your system recognizes. This is like a stranger knocking on your door, claiming to be your long lost Uncle Joe. An IP address is like the computer's name, giving a computer a specific identity that other computers come to recognize.
Network Packet Sniffers - Windows NT sends network packets as unprotected clear text, inad-vertently allowing anyone to pick packets up en route for a closer look. Even though some pack-et sniffers are legitimate (for network management) others are used to steal your information while in transit. This method is a hacker favorite because it's easier to pull off, harder to get caught.
Man-in-the-Middle Attacks - This type of an attack occurs when someone accesses infor-mation between two individuals without either one detecting the infiltrator's presence. If both parties are using a public-key system to send data, the man-in-the-middle can intercept the pub-lic key, use it to decipher the message, copy it, then recode the data again to continue sending it on its way.
Distribution of Sensitive Internal Information to External Sources - This form of an attack could involve a disgruntled employee or someone who has or once had access to sensitive cor-porate information. The individual could place the sensitive data on an external computer (such as an external FTP server or share a drive on a network) so others can have full access.
Password Attacks - Passwords are the most vulnerable to attack. Once someone has access to a user's password, the attackers will then have the key to personal information. There are several ways an attacker can steal passwords. The most common are:
Password Guessing - This technique is often ineffective because it takes a long time to guess someone's password, even if the password is a common one. Attackers can either enter guess-es manually or electronically.
Brute-Force Logon - This technique is essentially the same as password guessing, however, the attacker tries to quickly gain access to a user's username and password by using guessing tools to automate the process.
Password Cracking - This technique is more effective than the previous techniques. Password Cracking software obtains the password file in Windows through an elevated level of access, then uses a tool like PWDUMP to view the password data you've saved in a file.
Check out our Deal on the Bottom of Page 3 in order to make sure you don’t get hacked!
How to Pick a
Good Password
What’s the most common
password? You guessed it…
”password.” Obviously this is not
the best way to protect yourself
against hackers and online
thieves. But even if you don’t use
the word “password,” you might
be using an equally easy pass-
word to decipher.
We suggest you DON’T use
the following passwords for real-
ly important web sites, such as
your online banking web site or
other financially related sites.
Your name or your spouse’s
name.
Your children’s names.
Your pet’s name.
Your birth date.
The last four digits of your
Social Security number.
Your phone number.
Your address.
A series of consecutive
numbers, such as “1, 2, 3, 4.”
A single word that would
appear in a dictionary.
Your best bet for creating a
strong password: Use combina-
tions of letters, numbers and
special characters.
August
Employee Spotlight Name: Josie Wendel
Roles: Office Assistant/ Web Design & Development
Age: 21
Degree: Business Administration from Ball State University
Hobbies: Running, Hunting, Shopping
Favorite Quote: “Never let the fear of striking out, keep you
from playing the game.”
Who She Is:
Josie graduated Cum Laude from Ball State University with a major in
Business Administration this past May. Before that, she graduated in the top 20%
of her class from Fort Recovery High School in 2010. Josie says, “I loved college,
but I’m glad that I don’t have to study every night any more!”
In June, Josie got married to her high school sweet heart of 5 years.
Though they both are Fort Recovery Indians at heart, they are currently residing
in Redskin territory in a farm home that was originally her husband’s Great
Grandfather’s. Currently, Josie and her husband are raising pigs, baby calves, and
steers. So that means after work, she still has more work to do!
Josie does the marketing here at Tomorrow’s Technology Today. She says, “The amount of mar-
keting classes I have taken throughout my college career is unbelievable. Therefore, I know the im-
portance of marketing within any business.” Recently, Josie has gotten into the Web Design & Develop-
ment aspects here at TTechT. She is in charge of the web clients website updates and maintenance.
Josie states, “I’m up for any kind of challenge. All the skills that I’m learning here at TTechT are
helping me not only in my professional life, but in my personal life as well!” Josie is looking forward to all
the adventures that are yet to come here at TTechT, and says she will go at them with confidence be-
cause she knows she has a great team behind her.
Includes: 1 Year TotalSecure
Comprehensive Security Suite
Our Price: $445.00
Retail Price: $495.00
E-mail [email protected] for more details!
Or give us at call at
419-678-4600 ext. 105
SonicWALL TZ 105 Firewall Appliance
Deal of the Month TTechT Refer a Friend Program…
If you refer a friend for SMaRT Services,
and if they purchase the SMaRT
Services, TTechT will give YOU a $50
Amazon Gift Card!!!
Refer your Friend TODAY!
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (419)-678-4600 ext. 105
What is SEO? It is an abbreviation for Search Engine Optimization. What exactly does SEO do? It is the method of analyzing and constructing individual web pages, as well as entire sites, so that they can be discov-ered, analyzed, and then indexed by various search engines.
SEO can make the content of your web pages more relevant, more attractive, and more easily read by search engines and their crawling and indexing software.
Why would this be of great importance to you? Would it be im-portant to you if customers were unable to find your telephone number or find the address of your business? I do not think that many businesses could survive for very long in this situation.
This situation could apply to a web site. Can potential customers locate your current web site easily? Traffic to your web site could be extremely low. Potential customers might not even know that your site exists.
"Wait a minute!" you say. "We have a beautiful web site, and we include the web site address in all advertising campaigns. Why would people be unable to find our site?"
Of course, your current cus-tomers and persons already ac-quainted with your business would be likely to find your web site with-out difficulty. Wouldn’t they?
Are you absolutely sure that your advertising has reached enough potential customers? Did you consider that some people simply do not read the newspapers? How about people who didn’t get the issue of the magazine where you placed an expensive ad?
Did these people hear the WCSM radio broadcast when your com-mercial aired? Were they watching Channel 7 during the news hour? Were they on the direct mail list for which you paid thousands of dollars?
So how about those search engines that everyone uses? Potential customers will type a word or two into the box, hit ’Enter’, and immediate-ly find a listing for your company’s web site. One more click and you have another visitor. Search engines sure are great, aren’t they?
Yes, they certainly are great, and the ’type-and-click’ scenario above does happen. More often than not, however, it doesn’t happen with-out a little work. Search Engine Optimization is that work.
** To learn more about SEO Packages for your website
call or e-mail Bonnie Homan**
Phone: (419)-678-4600 ext. 100
E-mail: [email protected]
Keyboard Shortcuts
Everyone likes to save time, so why not save time while at work? Here is a list of 13 Windows Keyboard Shortcuts that will help save you time!
1) Windows Key + 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.
Will launch each program in your taskbar respectively
2) Control + Escape Key
Open up the Start Menu
3) Alt Key + Tab Key
Switch Between Open Programs
4) Control Key + “C” Key
Copy selected item
5) Control Key + “X” Key
Cut the selected item
6) Control Key + “V” Key
Paste
7) Control Key + “Z” Key
Undo
8) Control Key + “T” Key
Open up a new tab
9) Control Key + “W” Key
Close a tab
10) Alt Key + F4
Closes the Current Window
11) F5
Refreshes your Internet page
12) Control Key + “A” Key
Selects all items in a window
13) Windows Logo Key + “M” Key
Minimizes everything that is open
Why SEO is Important
for your Website
We would like to be friends.
Follow us, get blog updates, and
visit the site: www.ttecht.com