Borough of West Chester

Technology Training #19

June 14, 2016

And….

• Passwords and Password Managers• Email Security• Office 365 – portal walkthrough• Q & A

Skype for Business

Overview

On May 2nd we successfully moved away from our old phone system and to our new and exciting “Skype for Business” VoIP service.

The telecom companies are moving away from the old wired / coper infrastructure and towards new technologies such as fiber and FiOS which can support new VoIP services like Cisco & Microsoft’s Skype for Business.

Why Did We Make This Change?

The Bell Telephone Co was founded in 1877, making the phone system almost 140 years old.

Public internet: Started in 1991 which makes it 25 years old

Alexander Graham Bell won the first U.S. patent for the telephone in 1876. Bell began his research in 1874. In 1877-78, the first telephone line was constructed, the first switchboard was created and the first telephone exchange was in operation. Three years later, almost 49,000 telephones were in use.

What is VoIP?

The History of VoIP

Voice over Internet Protocol, abbreviated VoIP, is a fairly recent technology. It goes by many names, including Voice Over Broadband (VoBB), Internet Telephony, IP Telephony, and broadband phone.

The advent of the Internet brought with it an abundance of innovation regarding communication. Of course, there was email in the beginning, but then people started wondering whether they could communicate in real-time. This brought about instant messaging, which put AOL in the spotlight as the most popular provider. But, others wanted a more personal connection – they wanted to hear another person’s voice over the Internet in real time, which brings us to VoIP.

What is VoIP?

VoIP is the transmission of voice “data packets” from one IP address to another over the Internet. Developed around 1995, it originally served as a work-around for long-distance and international telephone charges. Less than two decades old, VoIP has revolutionized communication all around the world.

VoIP operates by transferring voice signals between IP addresses, which means that these signals have to transform into pieces of data small enough to transmit. Vocal samples from the sender are broken down into voice “packets,” which are given routing information and sent to the receiving end. The packets transmit one-by-one, then re-form as close to the original state as possible, creating one whole voice. This process compresses the voice signal, and then decompresses the signal for the receiver.

How Does VoIP Work?

What is VoIP?

Since it’s launch in 1995 the reliance on VoIP services has continued to grow. VoIP enjoyed regular growth through out the 1990’s and 2000’s.

Then in 2003 Skype entered the scene and VoIP gained national attention. VoIP, through Skype became a service that anyone could easily use. Facebook’s “FaceTime” also helped boost the popularity of VoIP.

Today VoIP is becoming the go-to communication solution for consumers and businesses world wide. There are many reasons for this which include the integration of technologies and the ability to work from anywhere on any device.

Oh – and of course the 140+ year old telecom system is showing it’s age and the phone companies are struggling to maintain it’s infrastructure.

All of this – and more has led us to Skype for Business…

Into the Future with Skype for Business

You may ask yourself, “Why did we move to Skype? I liked my old phone”.

There are many reasons and here are just a few.• The 140+ year old telcom system has seen better days and it is

a dying technology. • Skype for Business allows us to mobilize our workforce.• Skype for Business allows us to communicate in many ways

from any device we happen to be using.• Skype for Business allows us collaborate in new & exciting

ways.• Skype for Business allows us combine our communication

services with our productivity suite (Office 365). • Hosted Skype for Business allows us to reduce infrastructure

while at the same time expanding services.

An Overview of the Skype for Business Client

Adding a profile pictureIf you have uploaded a profile picture to Office 365 through the main portal, it will automatically carry through to Skype for Business.

To upload or edit your picture from within Skype for Business:

1. Click Options (cog icon ) on the Skype for Business main window 2. Choose Tools > Options 3. In the Skype for Business Options window, select My Picture from the left-hand panel 4. Click the Edit or Remove Picture button to upload an image. Office 365 will open. 5. Browse to select your picture file, then click Save at the bottom right of the screen

- You will be returned to the Skype for Business Options window 6. Ensure that the Show my picture radio button is selected 7. Click OK

Displaying Your Availability “Presence” A user’s availability is indicated by the colored icon beside their profile picture. This availability status is known as your presence and will indicate a status such as Available, Busy, Away, Do Not Disturb, etc. Your presence indicator will effect which communication options are available.

Presence is only indicated for those with the Skype for Business client running, otherwise it will show as Offline (uncolored). Indicators are based on your Outlook calendar information, but update according to both your calendar and your activity. For instance, if you are available at your desk but don’t use your mouse or keypad for a period of time (the default is 5 minutes, but this can be changed – Options> Tools> Options> Status), Skype for Business automatically changes your presence indicator from green to an inactive yellow icon. Using your keyboard or mouse returns your status to available.

Displaying Your Availability “Presence” You can also manually change your availability by:

• Using the drop-down status menu in the Skype for Business window

Integration with OutlookAs Skype for Business is integrated with Outlook, you will automatically see the availability of colleagues when you communicate with them by email.

When you add a name to the address field in a new email you will also see their presence status displayed beside the name.

Contacts

When you first start using Skype for Business, it is worth investing some time setting up contacts and groups so that you can easily communicate with people that you frequently interact with.

Integration with OutlookCreating a group

1. In the main Skype for Business window, click the Add a Contact 2. Choose Create a New Group 3. A New Group box will appear. Rename it by overwriting the text so that the new name is meaningful to you 4. Your group has been created, and you can start adding contacts to it

Finding and adding contacts

1. In the main Skype for Business window start typing the name in the search box. - A list of matching people from your Contacts will appear 2. Right-click on the required name and select Add to Contacts List, which then gives options of adding to a specific group.

You can also add contacts from the Add a Contact icon, then choose Add a Contact in My Organization

Integration with Outlook

Communicating with your contacts

To communicate with a contact, use one of the following methods to access the communication tools, then select the option you want to use (e.g. instant message, video call, etc).

• Hover your mouse over their picture in the contacts list:

• Double-click anywhere on their contact listing: • Right-click their contact listing:

Communicating with Your ContactsInstant messaging (IM)

Instant messaging (IM) allows you to communicate with people in real time, and at a moment’s notice. It is less formal than email, and faster than a phone call. You can have an IM conversation with one or many people, send pictures and files or add audio or video. Starting an IM conversation with one person

1. Locate the person you want to send an instant message to 2. Display the communication options for that person using one of the methods above

3. Choose the instant messaging icon - A conversation window will appear

4. Type your message at bottom of the conversation window 5. Press the return key or click the send icon (>)

Communicating with Your Contacts

Communicating with Your Contacts

• If a person’s status is set to Do Not Disturb, your message will not be sent.

• To get a notification when someone’s status returns to Available you can tag the contact (Right-click on their contact name and select Tag for Status Change Alerts). When they are next available you will get a pop-up notification on screen, allowing you the option to make contact and un-tag them.

Skype for Business Settings

This is the settings wheel.From here you can manage all of the settings for Skype for Business.

Walk Through of all settings.

Skype for Business User Guide

The reason this is important is that the majority of the malware that jeopardizes the Borough’s data is originating in personal email.

You do not what to be in a position in which you must explain why you were using Borough email for personal business and that it was your personal email that placed our data and security at risk.

Email - Separating Personal & Professional Messages

You can avoid this by simply taking the time to separate your email accounts.

You can see here how official or real a piece of malware can look. Here you can see a message pretending to be from Costco attempts to lure the recipient to their website. By clicking the here link malware is installed the on the PC.

Email – A Closer Look at Malware

Once again, never ever click on a link or attachment in an email that you did not specifically request. If you believe it may be a legitimate message make phone contact with the retailer.

Any other action on your part will place your data and perhaps the data of your organization in jeopardy!

1. Email messages, attachments, and other data—is discoverable and may be used as evidence—for or against any organization — in litigation.

2. Email that is related to current, pending, or potential litigation shall be retained, archived, and produced during e-discovery, the evidence-gathering phase of litigation.

3. Employers are allowed to routinely purge electronic archives of data that is not relevant to ongoing litigation or pending cases.

Email – Current Policy and Procedure Review

4. All email is archived and may be retrieved as part of an open records request or an internal investigation.

5. Borough of West Chester email shall not contain profanity or illegal action of any kind.

6. Borough of West Chester email shall not be used to conduct personal business.

Be Smart with Your EMAIL

I have talked about my 2 very simple email message rules before and this is another opportunity to talk about it. My simple 2 rules should be considered before sending email (or text) messages especially if the topic is sensitive, emotional or important in nature.

Would you (the sender) say what your are sending if you were “face to face” with the recipient? • If the answer is probably “no” – do not send the message.

Would you be embarrassed (or concerned) if a third party read the message you sent? • If the answer is “yes” – do not send the message.

Do you see how easy these rules are? If you do you could save yourself, and your organization a lot of problems down the road.

Protecting Your Information

As we continue relying on technology for conducting business, communicating through email, social media and shopping online cybercriminals are going to continue getting smarter and more aggressive in how they try to steal personal information.

So we need to be even smarter….

Password Management

Password Management is becoming one of the best defenses for security flaws. Passwords today need to be taken very seriously. This means having a good, efficient password management plan for every account you have online.

Password Management in days past could be very complicated, time consuming and difficult. However today there are many solutions out there that are easy to use, secure and either free or very inexpensive.

Each of your accounts should have a strong and unique password.

Password Management with LastPass

Last Pass has both a free account and a paid account.

The paid account is $12 / year and provided mobile app support which is alone is well worth the cost.

With this password management tool you will be able to organize, manage and use unique secure passwords easily.

In fact I use LastPass and I actually do not even know what the majority passwords are.

Now – that’s security!

Introducing LastPass

What I really like about LastPass is that you actually do not need to know all those passwords and their app is available on every device you may choose to use.

You just need to know one password…. Your LastPass password.

Introducing LastPass

With this in mind, even before you sign up for LastPass be sure to think about a good, secure password that you will never – ever forget.

Simple Passwords are so Yesterday

Passwords as we know them are going to change in a big way very soon. Gone will be the time when simple words like… “password” will be used or accepted.

Now I may be getting ahead of myself but…

A better password strategy is using key phrases that only you would know and no one else could guess or that a cyber criminal could hack.

Embrace Password Management

This is important before we continue. Make sure you pick a good password or phrase that you will not forget. It will also be a good idea to print and save this password is a secure location like a safe in your home or another secure location.

This will be the only password you will need if you use LastPass (or similar password managers) regularly.

If you forget your LastPass password there is NO reset mechanism.

Questions & Discussion