What Every Small Business Should Know About Windows 8, Cloud Computing and Malware

Transcription

1 What Every Small Business Should Know About Windows 8, Cloud Computing and Malware Your presenter: Joe Malmberg founded Top Dog PC Services in November of Mr. Malmberg has over fifteen years of experience in the Information Technology industry. His experience in the financial industry guides his development of secure multilocation systems. His company, Top Dog PC Services provides IT support services to small businesses throughout the Twin Cities metro area. Mr. Malmberg is a Microsoft Certified Professional and holds a SANS GIAC GSEC - GIAC Security Essentials Certification. Windows 8: At this point, you ve probably heard something about Windows 8 and may have already formed some opinions about it. Are there problems? Yes. What do they mean for you? You be the judge. We ll cut through the chatter and geek speak and delve into how Microsoft s latest desktop operating environment will impact your office. Cloud Computing: The cloud has been a favorite buzzword of IT marketers of late, but you may not realize that you ve been utilizing the cloud for several years already. We will take a closer look at what the cost and efficiency implications of cloud infrastructure are, as well as what cloud services many small businesses are relying on today. Malware: Malicious software is a bigger problem than it s ever been. We ll cover some of the latest threats the bad guys are putting out there. We ll also take some time to cover who s doing these terrible things to our computers and why. Time permitting, we ll cover some common mechanisms these crooks use to infiltrate your computer in the segment: Click, don t click

2 What Every Small Business Should Know About Windows 8, Cloud Computing and Malware Windows 8: At this point, you ve probably heard something about Windows 8 and may have already formed some opinions about it. Are there problems? Yes. What do they mean for you? You be the judge. 1. The biggest change in Windows 8 a. More equivalent to the Windows 3.11 to Windows 95 change than any upgrade since (17 years!) b. Geared for the touchscreen/tablet market. c. Our traditional start menu is gone replaced with Metro UI d. Consists of 2 environments classic desktop and Metro 2. Metro a. Metro is Microsoft s new user interface b. Geared for laptops yet exists on non-touchscreen devices c. App store for metro apps d. Idea that major developers will gear their apps for metro 3. Cool features a. Cloud data sync i. You can sync your desktop preferences from computer-to-computer ii. Optionally sync files between computers (should be restricted in an enterprise) b. Office Ribbon is in most apps c. New explorer d. Picture passwords e. Integrated backup f. Huge file transfer improvements g. Built in Antivirus h. Easy repair (reinstallation of all Windows files only) i. Windows 8 to go i. Create a Windows 8 image write to a flash drive and allow users to run from that on untrusted hardware j. Windows 8 is all-around faster than Windows 7 on both new and old PCs i. Faster boot times ii. Faster application load times k. +Integrated mail application supports Microsoft Exchange. -It s a metro app. 4. Problems a. No integrated tutorial for the new user on how Metro works b. Not clear where one starts and the other begins c. Confusing versions i. Multiple versions for both tablets and desktops d. Windows 7 s XP Compatibility mode is gone i. Hyper-V is included which is much faster than XP mode, but you have to install/buy XP separately e. There still exist some driver and software compatibility issues 5. Questions

3 a. Should I upgrade? i. Old hardware? Probably not ii. New hardware? Sure, why not? b. Can I downgrade to Windows 7? i. Yes, if you purchase Windows 8 Professional, you can downgrade to Windows 7 Professional. ii. There is no downgrade path for other versions of Windows 8. Cloud Computing: The cloud has been a favorite buzzword of IT marketers of late, but you may not realize that you ve been utilizing the cloud for several years already. We will take a closer look at what the cost and efficiency implications of cloud infrastructure are, as well as what cloud services many small businesses are relying on today. 1. Henry Burden s Wheel a. Henry Burden had a competitive advantage b. No one could touch his ability to manufacture and distribute c. How did he do it? A waterwheel i. Generated his own power d. Smaller companies couldn t compete. Others had to adapt to change or fail. e. And then it stopped. Utilities happened. f. New advancements in electricity allowed companies to tie in to one central utility hub 2. How this applies to technology a. In the early days of business tech, only large companies or governments could afford computers. b. Bank of America took the lead in the banking industry rolling out ERMA computer in i. Soon all major financial institutions were forced to follow suit. ii. Companies that were able to invest in computers and software had a competitive advantage and they won. c. Now everyone has computers and networks. i. Computer technology is a necessary evil. (It s why I have a job! HAHAHA) ii. Companies often end up in the technology industry in addition to their own d. Both electric and computing can be delivered over long distances efficiently over a network. i. they don t have to be produced or exist locally ii. they can achieve great economies of scale e. Most of the servers that are located in individual offices are much less than fully utilized. i. They sit idle much of the time waiting for the occasional request. ii. More efficient to serve more users and even more companies with the same physical equipment. 3. What is Cloud Computing? a. First, let s break this up into CLOUD & COMPUTING i. The cloud=the Internet. ii. Cloud computing suggests using computing resources that are located somewhere other than your office and are accessed through the Internet. iii. This allows you to access your business anytime, anywhere from any device. 4. Types of Cloud Solutions a. 4 kinds of Cloud solutions: a. Point Solutions i. Single Applications b. Simple Solution or Simple Package i. Shared hosted solutions c. Small Business Offering

4 i. One or two applications on one or two dedicated servers d. Total Cloud Offering i. Your whole environment in the cloud 5. What Goes in the Cloud? a. /Anti-spam b. Backups c. CRM tools d. Not CAD, for now. i. No replacement exists for the full desktop apps ii. Apps that exist are workable analogs iii. Ok in a pinch but not complete enough to perform most work iv. Will likely be several years before CAD hits the cloud 6. Cost Savings a. No power and cooling costs. b. No insurance costs (check your contract of course) c. Server room becomes available d. No worries about server repairs e. Not nearly as likely to experience downtime f. All of the above is completely dependent upon your cloud provider 7. What are the Benefits? a. Eliminate capital expenditures for much of your IT infrastructure i. Replace it with monthly operational expenses. b. Pay for what you use as you use it. i. particularly a benefit for companies that expect to grow (or shrink) c. Risk is shifted from your organization to the cloud provider. i. Allows small businesses to take advantage of enterprise-class tools d. Allows you to implement, adapt and enable new features and functionality much more quickly e. Ability to scale down. i. more users during a busy season, you pay for them only during the busy season. ii. When the people are gone, the expense is gone as well. 8. What are the Potential Problems? a. Cloud s Achilles heel: broadband i. Your office lives and dies with its Internet connection ii. Really need at least two Internet connections from two different providers. 1. Not everyone has this 2. Not everyone has an acceptable first Internet service provider. iii. Be sure to test any solution from several connections for at least a month before taking the plunge. iv. There are cloud horror stories 1. Pick your provider carefully 2. Do your research 3. Have an iron-clad contract 9. Security: a. Where is your data now? i. On a server in a closet in your office? Your desktop? A laptop you carry around with you? ii. Who has physical and digital access to those places? b. Contrast that with an access controlled data center. i. Data is stored behind enterprise class firewalls.

5 ii. Stored in redundant locations iii. Stored encrypted? iv. Again, this is why provider selection is important. 10. When is it right? a. Startups b. Offices under 20 seem to work well i. This is changing in some instances c. Offices with multiple offices d. Offices with a variable head count Malware: Malicious software is a bigger problem than it s ever been. We ll cover some of the latest threats the bad guys are putting out there. We ll also take some time to cover who s doing these terrible things to our computers and why. Time permitting, we ll cover some common mechanisms these crooks use to infiltrate your computer in the segment: Click, don t click 1. Remember the 90's? a. Antivirus simply worked b. Infections were rarely heard of c. Mostly transferred via floppy disk or Today a. We remove malware infections at the rate of 5-10 per week. b. Why the sudden increase? i. $$Money$$ 3. Types of Malware a. The majority is scareware. b. Maliciously reports viruses, hard drive errors, federal investigations, some cases encrypts files i. Urges you to purchase the full version of a product to resolve problem. ii. Computer is unusable until the fake antivirus software has been removed. iii. Some people pay the money 1. For $50-60 a pop those warning messages will go away. 2. The malicious software will still reside on your computer, continuing to do horrible things with YOUR computer 4. Who does this? a. Organized crime. i. Scam is profitable ii. As of this writing, over 30 million computers have been infected with scareware. iii. In one of scam the group netted over $10 million a month in revenue. iv. The cost to end-users is astronomical. In 2008 users spent a total of $264.6 million removing this type of threat from their systems. 5. How does one get infected? a. Normal web browsing b. Malicious attachments c. Mostly flash-based ads coming from a site you normally visit i. Drudge Report, Star Tribune, Fox News and CBS News have been unwitting gateways d. The ads exploit flaws in Java and Flash e. Often create a window that makes it look like you have a virus f. Typically they offer a free download of an antivirus application 6. What to do if you are in this situation?

6 a. Close your browser i. KILL your browser b. Ctrl-Alt-Delete and select task manager (or hit Ctrl-Shift-Esc) i. Select your web browser and hit end task c. If you re beyond this point, your only option is to remove it yourself or contact a support professional 7. How to protect myself from this threat? a. No silver bullet b. Cat and mouse game c. Combination of i. Antivirus ii. Anti-spam iii. Good desktop security policy (does everyone need administrative rights) iv. Good server security policy (review rights on network shares) Your presenter: Joe Malmberg founded Top Dog PC Services in November of Mr. Malmberg has over fifteen years of experience in the Information Technology industry. His experience in the financial industry guides his development of secure multi-location systems. His company, Top Dog PC Services provides IT support services to small businesses throughout the Twin Cities metro area. Mr. Malmberg is a Microsoft Certified Professional and holds a SANS GIAC GSEC - GIAC Security Essentials Certification.