Xiologix Blog

This IT blog is your resource for the latest Xiologix news as well as helpful, thought provoking, interesting and just plain fun IT related articles. If you have content that you'd like to learn more about but don't see here, please contact us!
10/22/2018
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Where Is Your Security Perimeter?

By | Cloud Computing, Mobility, Security, Virtualization | No Comments
User-Centric Security

We live and work in a mobile-first, cloud-first world. But the cloud revolution hasn’t happened the way many people expected it to happen. Instead of organizations moving everything wholesale to the cloud in a “lift and shift” approach, it’s happened just like the introduction of every other “big new thing” over the last several decades: cloud technology has ended up being layered on top of what we’re already doing. So now we have desktop apps and SaaS apps and Web apps and mobile apps and cloud apps, and apps that defy categorization. (What is Office 365? Is it a desktop app? A cloud app? A mobile app? The answer is “D. All of the above.”) Read More

10/03/2018
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Online Safety at Home

By | Security | No Comments

While internet usage in the home continues to grow, so does our need to learn, exercise and share internet safety. From posting on social media to using the latest internet-connected toy, it is imperative that everyone from children through older adults learn to use the internet and internet-connected items safely.

Here are a few tips to get those conversations started based on StaySafeOnline recommendations:

Keep a Clean Machine: Those pesky “updates” on our cell phones, PCs and other Internet-connected devices, are designed in part to help keep your devices free of viruses, malware, and other online threats. Don’t ignore them – many times they include patches to recently discovered vulnerabilities.

Lock Down Your Login: One does not need to look hard to find recent examples of large-scale password exposures. Improve account security by enabling robust authentication tools such as bio-metrics or one-time access codes. Let’s Talk About Passwords.

Read Between the Lines: Would you put up a sign on your front door saying, “Nobody is Home?” Of course not but that could be how a bad actor reads your real-time check-in or vacation photo. If you want to share your adventures, lock down who can see your posts or consider posting once you have returned.

Share with Care: Think carefully about what you are saying about yourself or others before you post. Choices can hurt feelings, betray trust or even come back to bite you in the future.

Back it up: Having a recent copy of your important files and photos can spare you from the ill-effects of device failure and #ransomware.

Protect Personal Information: Personal information is an asset that can be sold for money. Information such as your locations and purchasing habits and even search history is deemed valuable by an array of retailers. Did you know that Medical Records are more valuable on the black market than your credit card numbers?

Be Aware of Incognito Mode: Browsing Incognito can be a great way to ensure that your cookies and site data are not saved. However, parents beware, browsing incognito can allow your home users to visit sites without you being able to track their activity by looking at the browser history.

Avoid Falling for Tricks: From Phishing to Spoofing, bad actors can be very creative in tricking unsuspecting internet users to click on malware. Knowledge is power so keep yourself and your household familiar with how to recognize potential fraudulent attempts to get you to click. Be wary of communications asking you to click or enter private information. When in doubt, contact the organization directly by phone to confirm that the communication is legitimate and to report it if it is not.

Secure Your WiFi Router: Change your WiFi router’s default name in a way that does not let people identify that it’s yours. No using “WoodwardHomeWiFi”. Set a very strong passphrase for your WIFi network. Have fun with it keeping it positive and easy to remember and consider throwing in some numbers to substitute as letters such as “IL0V3THEB3ACH”.

Follow Xiologix for more #cybersecurity information as we participate in the 15th Annual National Cybersecurity Awareness Month and work year-round to help businesses of all sizes protect their digital infrastructure and data.  #cyberaware

08/22/2018
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5 Reasons to Purchase Cybersecurity From a VAR

By | Security | No Comments

The digital business model requires organizations to adopt a new approach to securing data and networks. At the same time, technology and networks are evolving, making security more complex.

One of the biggest challenges is the sheer number of security products and vendors inside an organization. According to our technology partner Fortinet, Some larger financial enterprises; for example, use products from as many as 40 or more vendors to secure their networks.

All these products — firewalls, intrusion protection systems, antivirus tools and so on — have their own management systems and generate their own alerts. Since they don’t typically integrate, these disparate products complicate security efforts even further.

The number of alerts generated by separate systems can overwhelm even the most robust security teams, with many alerts going uninvestigated.  Read More

08/01/2018
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Let’s Talk About Passwords

By | Security | No Comments

Ugh. Passwords. The concept has been around as long as civilization itself. But are they the best way to protect account access in the digital age? How do you insure that people use “strong” passwords? What is a “strong” password, anyway? And when is a password – regardless of its strength – not enough?

The difficulty from an administrative perspective is that the restrictions we impose on our users in an attempt to force them to create strong passwords are often counterproductive. If the password must be at least 8 characters long, must contain both upper- and lower-case characters and at least one numeric and one “special” character, and cannot be a word that’s in the dictionary and must be changed every 90 days and cannot be a password that you’ve used before, you’ve almost guaranteed that it’s going to be written down somewhere because it will be nearly impossible to remember.

So what’s an admin to do? Well, there are some guidelines that we can give users to help them create strong passwords that are easy to remember. Read More

04/23/2018
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Think You’re Too Small to Be Targeted? Think Again!

By | Uncategorized | No Comments

I got an interesting email this morning. It was “from” one of the owners of Xiologix – but the return address was a bit odd: “ofceo@comcast.net” As this unfolded, it became obvious that this was a classic “spear phishing” attack. I’ll run you through the email exchange for entertainment purposes, and then talk about the lessons to be learned here. The original message was short and sweet: Read More

04/11/2018
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Application Infrastructure Dependency Map

Why People are Talking about Uila

By | Cloud Computing, Virtualization | No Comments

Uila LogoUila (pronounced wee-la) with its application-centric infrastructure monitoring and analytics identifies performance bottlenecks for business-critical services and plans workload migration strategies for private and hybrid cloud environments. Uila provides service dependency mapping, full stack correlation with one-click root cause analysis and patented deep packet inspection technology that understands over 3,000 application protocols for transactional meta data analysis. Businesses use Uila to align themselves with their IT operations team and cut time to resolution from days to minutes, keep their application at peak performance at all time and ensure end-user satisfaction to the fullest. Read More

03/22/2018
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Xiologix Employee Completes 8-Day Wildnerness First Responder Certification

By | Xiologix in the Community | No Comments

Senior Systems Engineer, James Pethigal, completed the 8-day Wilderness First Responder certification course in Southern California this past week. As traditional first responder training typically takes place in domestic and urban settings, the wilderness training teaches participants effective methods when dealing with medical emergencies when 911 is not a viable option. Read More

02/14/2018
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What Would a Mobile Workspace Look Like?

By | Cloud Computing, Mobility, Security | No Comments

Mobile Workspace

Well over a decade ago, at a Citrix conference, I saw an amazing video. It showed a team of people in geographically separate locations collaborating to solve a business problem, sharing access to applications and data in the process. It showed a business person leaving his office, and having his running applications seamlessly follow him to a mobile computing device in his car, then, when he got home, seamlessly follow him to the computer in his home office, all the while continuing the collaboration session with his teammates. At the time, none of this technology existed outside of developers’ imaginations (and whatever prototypes they might have been working on in their labs).

Today, not only does the technology exist, it is relatively commonplace. Telecommuters access data and applications with performance that is every bit equal to that of their colleagues in the office. Engineers work on CAD drawings remotely with no loss of performance or graphic resolution. Radiologists can view a diagnostic image on an iPad from the sidelines of their child’s soccer game. Companies have discovered the cost savings available from Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) programs. And it all goes back to the basic vision that work is something that you do – it is not necessarily a place where you go. Read More