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Windows Defender good enough

Security Alert – Update Warning for Microsoft Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10

By Jeff Fowler | August 19, 2019
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At SandStorm IT, we typically suggest doing all updates (especially Operating System) as they become available to avoid security vulnerabilities, In the latest batch of Microsoft updates, there were some “known issues”. In this security alert, we’ll cover “What’s the issue?”, “What versions of Windows does it affect?” and “What can I do?”. What’s the…

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What is a Domain Name System

What is a DNS attack and how can I defend against it?

By SandStorm IT | August 5, 2019
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What is DNS? The easiest way to explain Domain Name Service (DNS) is to think of DNS as a phone book.  Computers access a DNS server to be able to look up a domain name and return IP address associated with it, much the same as you could use a phone book to look up…

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Windows Server 2008 R2 End-of-Life

Windows Server 2008 R2 End-of-Life Support is Near

By Justin Oliver | June 24, 2019
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Windows Server 2008 R2 End-of-Life Support is near. Windows Server 2008 R2 end-of-life mainstream supported ended back on January 13, 2015. However, there is a more critical date looming. On January 14, 2020, Microsoft will end all support for Windows Server 2008 R2. It seems like 2020 is a way’s off but updating an IT…

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Data Breach

Data Breach: Almost 20 Million Patient’s Data Stolen in 2 Separate Medical Laboratory Data Breaches

By Jeff Fowler | June 5, 2019
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Just a few days after Quest Diagnostics reported that a data breach compromised the information of 11.9 million patients, LabCorp is reporting that it was breached as well, affecting 7.7 million additional records. What happened? An unauthorized user installed malicious code on the payment pages of the American Medical Collection Agency (AMCA), a 3rd party…

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keep running Windows 7

What will happen on January 14, 2020 when Windows 7 is no longer supported?

By SandStorm IT | May 27, 2019
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I’m sure by now you’ve heard that Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 are going end of life at the beginning of next year, but what is going to happen on January 14, 2020, when it finally does go end of life? What is end of life? First, we need to define…

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Remote Desktop Vulnerability

Remote Desktop Vulnerability discovered in Windows XP, Windows 2003 & Windows 7.

By Jeff Fowler | May 17, 2019
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A recent update from Microsoft addresses a vulnerability in the Remote Desktop Service used in older versions of Windows, namely Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Windows 7. Given that both XP and Windows Server 2003 has been End-of-Life for a few years now, this is an unusual action for Microsoft. Here’s what Microsoft is…

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(VPN) APPLICATIONS ARE STORING COOKIES INSECURELY

Vulnerability Alert: Multiple Virtual Private Network (VPN) applications are storing cookies insecurely

By Jeff Fowler | April 18, 2019
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At SandStorm IT, we try to keep you up to date on the latest in tech news. This is especially true when the case is a potential vulnerability that could affect your business. A recent report from Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute is warning of an issue with multiple Virtual Private Network applications that…

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WINRAR

Vulnerability in popular tool WinRAR is being used to install malware

By Jeff Fowler | March 15, 2019
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“Earlier this month Check Point Research reported discovery of a 19 year old code execution vulnerability in the wildly popular WinRAR compression tool. Rarlab reports that there are over 500 million users of this program. While a patched version, 5.70, was released on February 26, attackers are releasing exploits in an effort to reach vulnerable…

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WHAT ARE GOOGLE ADS

What are Google Ads and How can my business benefit from them?

By Jeff Fowler | March 11, 2019
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So, what are Google Ads? If you’ve ever used Google, then you’ve likely experienced ads in the search results. “Google Ads” is the name of the advertising arm of Google. It allows advertisers to display clickable ads as paid placements within Google search results. It’s not easy to tell the difference between a sponsored and…

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Zero-Day Vulnerability Found in Google Chrome

Newly Discovered Zero-Day Vulnerability Found in Google Chrome

By Jeff Fowler | March 6, 2019
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In order to stay secure using Google Chrome, you need to update your browser immediately. There is a security vulnerability in the FileReader component of Chrome that could allow remote attacker to access memory and execute code to take unauthorized control of your machine. Here’s the official notice from Google: “The stable channel has been…

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