If you plan to upgrade existing computers to Windows 10 anyway, and have tested it in your network, this may be the right time.

Otherwise, you may join other businesses who stay on Windows 7 or 8.1. Free upgrades aren’t free if they disrupt your business and cause pain. You can join the multitudes who will move to Windows 10 on new computers as they retire old ones.

Speaking of deadlines, it is time for you to send your IT professionals to the 2016 SuperTech workshop August 8, 9, and 10. The experience starts at 8am Monday and finishes up about noon on Wednesday. They will learn new ways to finish IT projects on time, how to handle the multiple priorities that they face every day, and master the art of successfully interacting with the rest of your team. Reward them with this well deserved training. To sign up, or get more information, please call 805-637-7039 or email mike at foster institute dot com

The post Pain Free or Free Pain? appeared first on Foster Institute.

When we audit companies, it has become commonplace to discover attacks like this in progress. Place emphasis on the past two words. This isn’t a coincidence. The reality is that attackers are now constantly attempting to break into organizational accounts, from anywhere in the world, using guessed usernames and passwords. In some cases, the attackers are successful.

What you need to know: An important feature, the account lockout policy, is often overlooked when networks are configured.

Your servers can monitor failed logon attempts. It only takes your IT professionals 10 seconds to configure a policy that tells the servers that if a user enters the wrong password five times within five minutes, then his account is disabled for five minutes before he can attempt to logon again. And all of those numbers are easy to adjust individually; none of them need to be five.

The bad part of an account lockout policy is that, for the users who cannot remember their password, they only get to make a certain number of incorrect guesses at a time. That’s why you might use the number five for the values shown above. Even those basic restrictions can significantly frustrate an attacker. Locking out a user for 30 minutes after three wrong guesses may sound more secure, but it is also much more inconvenient for a forgetful user.

There is a long conversation to have about the pros and cons of setting a lockout policy, but one thing is certain: If an attacker ever gains access to your network through guessing passwords, you will wish that you’d asked your IT professional to configure the account lockout policy.

Please forward this to your friends whose organizations you care about.

The post When Attackers Come Knocking appeared first on Foster Institute.

Microsoft presents the feature to users saying, “Download apps and OS updates from multiple sources to get them more quickly”.

Think about it and it sort of makes sense. Rather than every computer on the planet having to go to Microsoft’s servers to download patches and apps, Windows 10 computers can reach out to other Windows 10 computers and obtain the patch from them. This helps prevent Microsoft’s servers from becoming overloaded, and can allow your computer to receive patches and apps sooner. Ultimately, this can even reduce the amount of traffic flowing on the Internet in general.

Microsoft has built in strong security – though security can be broken.

Microsoft does their best not to use your computer to deliver patches if you are connected to the Internet using a mobile hotspot – helping you avoid unexpected data charges. You can also specify what Wi-Fi connections are charged as metered networks.

One concern is that, if your computer is being used to deliver updates, your Internet connection may slow down. Or, perhaps you don’t want your computer to be, what some users may feel is, a zombie for Microsoft to use as part of their patch delivery mechanism.

How to turn this feature off in Windows 10: Go to the Start button icon, choose Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > Advanced Options. You can choose to not participate, or to select either PCs on your local network only, or PCs on your local network and PCs on the Internet”

Please help spread the word and forward this newsletter on to those you care about!

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