Tag Archive: IT


End Nearing for Some Microsoft Systems

Filed under: Best Practices, Business Continuity, Investment Operations, Security — Leave a comment
May 31, 2013

HourglassWindows XP was a mainstay at many financial services firms for nearly a decade.  In keeping with the Microsoft Lifecycle Support Policy, support for Windows XP and similar aged software must eventually end.  You can learn more about the policy here.

According to Microsoft, extended support for Windows XP is scheduled to end on 04/08/2014.  If your office is using Windows XP, you should be working on plans to phase out XP by replacing those systems with new PCs or upgrading the PCs to a more recent workstation operating system in the next six to nine months.  There is no good reason to wait until or beyond April 2014 to perform these upgrades.

Why should you care?

Most security standards – for instance, 201 CMR 17.00 – require that you apply security patches on a regular basis.  It is the extended support from Microsoft that allows you to do this.  After extended support has ended, there is no guarantee that any security patches will be released for these systems.  In order to stay compliant with security standards, firms using Windows XP will need to upgrade to other systems.

Hasta la vista, Vista!

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Currently, we are recommending that business users implement Windows 7 Professional on workstations.  Windows 8 makes sense for home users with touch screens, but we prefer not to implement operating systems before they have become mainstream in the workplace; Windows 8 just isn’t there yet.

Vista extended support is good through 04/11/2017, but Vista has always been a dog, and any business users still using Vista should strongly consider moving to Windows 7 Professional immediately.

Server-based systems affected by the Microsoft Lifecycle Support Policy

Windows 2003 Server extended support is good through 07/14/2015.  Nevertheless, Windows Server 2008 R2 will likely be the most widely used network operating system among investment advisors by the end of 2013.  Windows Server 2012 was released on 09/04/2012 and hasn’t yet been widely implemented among SMBs we are familiar with.

Exchange Server 2003 extended support also ends on 04/08/2014.  The implications of this related to security updates are the same as those detailed above regarding XP.  If you know which version of Exchange is in use at your office, you can check Microsoft’s site here to determine when the end of extended support for Exchange will affect your firm.

Like Vista, extended support of Exchange Server 2007 is good through 4/11/2017, so there is no need to upgrade in the near term future.  Exchange 2010 adds OWA support for Firefox and Chrome.  In addition, Exchange 2010 makes better use of lower-cost disk subsystems, allowing you to get a performance boost over 2007 without spending a premium.  Those are nice features, but not nice enough to push an Exchange upgrade before a normal IT lifecycle replacement demands it.

Exchange Server 2003 will be phased out by many advisors this year, and most will move to Exchange Server 2010.  Though Exchange Server 2013 was technically released in November 2012, it may be premature for the SMBs that dominate the investment industry to adopt Exchange Server 2013 over Exchange Server 2010.  Presently, there is no direct migration path from Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2013.  A number of small investment advisors will move to hosted Exchange solutions and no longer keep Exchange servers at their offices.

With this many possible changes slated for the next ten months, now is a good time to make sure your firm has addressed the issues or has a plan to upgrade any systems affected.

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About the Author: Kevin Shea is President of InfoSystems Integrated, Inc. (ISI); ISI provides a wide variety of outsourced IT solutions to investment advisors nationwide.

For details, please visit isitc.com, contact Kevin Shea via phone at 617-720-3400 x202 or e-mail at kshea@isitc.com.

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Protecting Your Clients’ Security

Filed under: Best Practices, Client Communication, Investment Operations, Security — Leave a comment
April 5, 2013

iStock_000009182001XSmallIn a day where security threats are constantly evolving and your business is reponsible for keeping confidential information secure, your clients’ computer systems may seem an unlikely place to prod your nose, but unfortunately, an increasing number of security threats are originating from the clients of investment advisors.

One recurring example that we have witnessed over the past year, is the hacking of email accounts.  In this scenario, your client’s email account with Google gets hacked because their password is “patriots1” or perhaps their PC has been infected with a keylogger virus.  In any event, a hacker somehow discovers your client’s password and now has access to their historic email records.

In the past, hackers might have been satisfied to use that account to SPAM everyone on earth, but today’s hackers are more sophisticated.  Apparently, they’ll actually take the time to read through your client’s emails in search of financially sensitive information.  Based on the content of previous communications with your firm, they can compose a similar looking email to one that the client might have sent in the past to ask your staff about total holdings or even request a check.

Here are some tips your clients should follow to keep their email and other accounts secure:

  1. Don’t enter your passwords in kiosks and other systems available to the public.
  2. When you get the option to store the password for various accounts and websites on your PC, don’t do it.
  3. Never send your passwords in an email.
  4. Use encrypted email connections.
  5. Institute complex passwords.  I know it’s a pain, but so is having your identity stolen.
  6. Don’t use the same passwords for multiple accounts.  Yes, this is a pain too, but there are some programs like eWallet that can help.
  7. Run up-to-date versions of security software that include protection for spyware, malware and viruses.  Don’t ignore messages from your Antivirus program.
  8. Stay up-to-date on operating system and application security patches.
  9. Be cautious of which sites you browse.  A program like openDNS can help you keep your computers clean by limiting access to potentially harmful websites.  The home version of OpenDNS is free.  You can find it at www.opendns.org.  Antivirus programs like AVG and Symantec can filter websites too, but do it with less specific controls.

Here is what your clients should to do if they do get hacked:

  1. Contact a computer professional or the email provider to help determine how you got hacked.
  2. Alert your investment advisor and other vendor relationships that hackers could try to take advantage of.
  3. Resolve any issues that may have led to the hack, such as: simple passwords, malware, spyware, and viruses.
  4. Change your passwords and any hints from a computer system, smart phone or the original system once the threats have been removed on the following: the hacked site, any other sites where you used the same username and password and any sites whose information you stored in the hacked account.
  5. If you determine that you have been a victim of spyware or malware, you will need to change all your passwords for your online accounts and follow the procedures for recovering from identity theft.
  6. If you cannot follow any of these steps because your account credentials have been changed, you will need to contact the company providing that account in order to regain control of your account.
  7. Implement better security provisions going forward.

There is only so much you can do to protect your clients.  Ensuring that email communications are secure should be at the top of the list. Your firm can implement a product like Zixmail to encrypt selected emails, but at the point where your client’s computer system has been compromised, this may only provide an additional deterrent, and should not be seen as the solution to the problem.

The best course of action is a combination of staying vigilant, educating your clients, implementing best-practice email security, and instituting additional internal controls aimed at how your firm handles client communications, such as balance and check requests.

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About the Author: Kevin Shea is President of InfoSystems Integrated, Inc. (ISI); ISI provides a wide variety of outsourced IT solutions to investment advisors nationwide.

For details, please visit isitc.com, contact Kevin Shea via phone at 617-720-3400 x202 or e-mail at kshea@isitc.com.

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Prevent Network Cabling Nightmares

Filed under: Best Practices — Leave a comment
February 28, 2013

cableOver the years, I have seen a lot of first-rate cabling jobs done by true cabling professionals, but I am also surprised with the magnitude of shoddy work done by people claiming to be professionals.  The result of the latter is that I am tougher than most about vetting cabling companies.  I am not a cabling professional, but I understand the technology, test cables, and know how they are supposed to be wired.  I am also capable of doing fundamental cabling jobs when absolutely necessary.  What passes for network cabling in some instances is abysmal.

Some examples include:

  • Cables stapled to the wall – This is particularly ineffective, especially when the professionals doing it put staples through the cables.
  • Improper cable termination – CAT 5e and CAT 6 cables, the most widely installed cables today, are only supposed to be terminated in one of two methods.

As a technology consultant, it is my job to thoroughly check and maintain network infrastructure, such as cabling, that can impact the performance of my clients’ systems.  Though many homes and public places utilize wireless, most corporate environments still use gigabit Ethernet in lieu of wireless due to a demand for greater network speed and security.  With that in mind, managing cabled networks and minimizing cabling problems will continue to be a high-priority item for the foreseeable future.

Here are eight things you can do to help prevent cabling nightmares:

1. Run ANY planned cabling work by your primary IT manager or consultant.

2. Hire qualified cabling professionals and check their references.

3. Centrally locate wiring whenever possible. This means that you not only try to put the wiring in the center of your office, but also try to put all of the wiring in the same place, which is hopefully where your servers are stored.  This is, of course, an ideal.  Wiring centers sometimes wind up where they fit into an office floor plan.  If you have an existing wiring center and you are adding new drops, it will likely make sense to have the new cables run from the existing wiring center.

4. Have all patch panels and office jacks clearly labeled. This isn’t hard to do when things are first installed, but if it isn’t done you will pay over and over again for people to try and figure out what is what.

5. Get separate drops for voice and data. Though some think this does not matter because workstations can be plugged into most VOIP phones, having separate voice and data drops is an important issue.  Separate cable runs cost very little incrementally, allow you to easily segment VOIP network traffic, and maximize your network bandwidth.  Most of today’s VOIP phones are Fast Ethernet (100mb) network devices not gigabit Ethernet network devices.  So the result of using a single drop for voice and data in an office is that your phone gets plugged into what may be a gigabit Ethernet network jack, and forces the connection down to 100MB.  The user’s workstation is then typically plugged into the VOIP phone, but the network connection is 100MB, so the PC connects at a speed that is theoretically a tenth of what it could be.  This may be less of an issue in the future, but most of the places I work would easily notice this difference and be unhappy about it.

6. Have the final work checked by your primary IT manager or consultant before you pay the cabling company.

7. Create a network diagram with detailed wiring information and keep it up-to-date.62-200

8. Finally and most importantly, buy a cable tester, learn how to use it and test any cables you put into your network.  A tester only costs about $50 and it can easily save you $500 or more.  It isn’t unusual to find bad network cables shipped with new devices or in a group of brand new cables.  If you use a bad cable, it can cause network latency and other workstations issues which can take a significant amount of time to troubleshoot and cost your business time and money.

Recently, I reviewed an interesting network cabling job done by a contactor.  He had removed about three feet of the cable jacket from the runs he made into the wiring center, leaving all the wires exposed, then terminated the wires, and plugged them into the switch.  Of five cables that he ran, four cables were incorrectly terminated, and they were terminated in four different ways.  In this case, it is clear from was left behind that he had no idea what he was doing, but without a cable tester you wouldn’t know that.

Historically, the only consistency I have seen is a failure on the part of people doing cabling to check all of their work.  It literally takes an extra minute to check each cable run when you are done.  I expect that out of every dozen cable runs I check, I will find one that is incorrect.  On rare occasions, I’ll admit that I am pleasantly surprised by a perfect job.

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About the Author: Kevin Shea is President of InfoSystems Integrated, Inc. (ISI); ISI provides a wide variety of outsourced IT solutions to investment advisors nationwide.

For details, please visit isitc.com, contact Kevin Shea via phone at 617-720-3400 x202 or e-mail at kshea@isitc.com.

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Avoid Internet Doomsday Hype

Filed under: Business Continuity, Security — Leave a comment
July 6, 2012

Unless you live in a cave, you have probably heard lead-ins to the story from reporters,  “Enjoy the Internet while you have it.”  These reports make reference to Monday, July 9th, 2012 as Internet Doomsday.

Here is what you should know about the threat:

  1. It isn’t new.  This malware has been around for a while.
  2. If your PC is serviced regularly, and your antivirus program is active, it is unlikely to be a problem.
  3. There is no impending attack.  Potential outages will actually be caused by the FBI taking temporary DNS servers offline.  If your PC is infected with this malware, then you will lose Internet access until the malware is removed and the proper DNS settings are restored.
  4. According to current reports, 360,000 PCs worldwide and 64,000 PCs in the United States (US) are still infected.  Per census data (July 2011) there are over 311 million people living in the US.  So there are a relatively small number of infected PCs here.
Nonetheless, you can go ahead and check whether your system has been compromised using the following link: http://www.dns-ok.us/

 

Since servers in the corporate environment typically provide DNS information to the connected workstations in an office, your office DNS servers should also be checked. For more details on this issue, refer to the FBI article.

About the Author: Kevin Shea is President of InfoSystems Integrated, Inc. (ISI); ISI provides a wide variety of outsourced IT solutions to investment advisors nationwide. For details, please visit isitc.com, contact Kevin Shea via phone at 617-720-3400 x202 or e-mail at kshea@isitc.com.

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