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Review twice, Implement once. Doing IT right the first time.
February 2015
Innovations
How To Keep Your Laptop Secure When Using Public WiFi Hotspots
The Lighter Side… Man vs. Woman
MARRIAGE SEMINAR
While attending a Marriage
Seminar dealing with
communication, Tom and his
wife Grace listened to the
instructor, “It is essential that
husbands and wives know
each other's likes and
dislikes.” He addressed the
man. “Can you name your
wife's favorite (lower?” Tom leaned over, touched his
wife's arm gently and
whispered, “It's Pillsbury,
isn't it?”
WIFE VS. HUSBAND A couple drove down a
country road for several
miles, not saying a word.
An earlier discussion had led
to an argument and neither of
them wanted to concede their
position. As they passed a
barnyard of mules, goats, and
pigs, the husband asked
sarcastically, 'Relatives of
yours?' 'Yep,' the wife
replied, 'in-laws.'
ON A PLUMBER’S TRUCK:
"We repair what your
husband (ixed."
,and,
"Don't sleep with a drip. Call
your plumber."
BSSi2, www.bssi2.com, 847-551-4626, [email protected]
They are everywhere these days. WiFi hotspots for checking e-mail and
hopping on the Internet can be found in airports, coffee shops and even
most fast-food joints. But have you ever wondered, just how safe is it to
connect? With the proliferation of hackers, viruses and identity theft at an
all-time high, you are smart to be concerned. Unfortunately, it is easy for a
hacker to set up a WiFi spot to access your laptop, called an “evil twin.” An
evil twin is a wireless hotspot that is used to lure people from a nearby,
legitimate hotspot. For example, when logging in at your favorite coffee
shop, you may have inadvertently logged in to an evil twin Internet con-
nection set up by the person working on a laptop at the next table.
Just like legitimate sites, evil twins allow you access to the Internet, but in
the background they record everything you are typing. Log on to your
e-mail, investment web site or bank account, or buy something online,
and they are recording your keystrokes.
You may be asking, “How do I protect myself at WiFi hotspots?” First you
need to make sure the hotspot is legitimate. You can do this by asking
someone who works at the WiFi location; in fact, some businesses will
give you printed instructions that include the hotspot name. Even here
you need to be careful. Many times, in an attempt to make you feel
comfortable, the hacker will use an evil twin name that mimics the
legitimate hotspot and, on some occasions, the fake site may even show
up at the top of your network list by having a stronger signal than the
legitimate site.
The best protection you can have is connecting via
your company’s VPN (virtual private network). A VPN protects your online information by encrypting your data and
activity even if you're connected through an evil twin. If you don’t have a
VPN, the best protection is to surf the net, but never type in password,
credit card, social security, bank account or other sensitive information
when connected to a public WiFi hotspot.
Page 2
Innovations
BSSi2, www.bssi2.com, 847-551-4626, [email protected]
Protect Yourself From Online
Credit Card Fraud
The past
couple of years
have been a
rough ride for
anyone who
relies on a
credit card to
make
purchases.
Data breaches
have plagued
retail stores in the U.S. and Canada. Credit card providers
are set to roll out new, more secure credit cards to con
sumers this year, catching up to Europe and much of Asia
in terms of credit card security. The U.S., in particular, has
lagged behind in credit card security due in part to the
cost of upgrading both the cards themselves and the pay
terminals.
If you are concerned about your credit card information
falling into the wrong hands, there are several steps you
can take to protect yourself:
Only give your credit card information to secure and
trusted web sites. Never enter any personal or &inancial
information on a nonsecure web page. If you don’t see
“https” in the web address, move along.
Monitor all activity. Regularly check your credit card and
bank statements. The simplest way to spot fraud is to
monitor all your &inancial activity. Many credit card
providers have custom alerts you can set to notify you if
certain purchases are made.
Never save credit card information. Many online retailers
and shops now ask if you would like to save your credit
card information for future use. While it may seem
convenient, skip it.
Delete your cookies and auto&ill data. When you enter
information on a web page, that data is stored in your web
browser. After you complete a transaction, go into your
browser’s options, settings or history tab and delete the
data.it.
Subscribe to a credit monitoring service. Such services will
watch for such fraud and alert you and intervene on your
behalf. BSSi2 uses LegalShield.
*****EXPIRATION NOTICE*****
An URGENT Security Warning For
Businesses Running Microsoft Windows
Server 2003
Windows Server 2003 and Exchange 2003 Replacements MUST Be Made By
July 14, 2015
Microsoft has of&icially announced that it will
retire all support on the Server 2003
operating system on July 14, 2015. That
means any business with this operating
system still running will be completely
exposed to serious hacker attacks aimed at
taking control of your network, stealing data,
crashing your system and in&licting a host of
other businesscrippling problems you do
NOT want to have to deal with.
This is such a serious threat that the US
Department of Homeland Security has issued
an of&icial warning to all companies still
running this operating system because
&irewalls and antivirus software will NOT be
suf&icient to completely protect your busi
ness from malicious attacks or data ex&iltra
tion. Running Server 2003 will also put many
organizations out of compliance.
Unless you don’t care about cybercriminals
running rampant in your company’s
computer network, you MUST upgrade any
equipment running this software.
February 2015
Email has become a full-�me challenge to manage, both
personally and professionally. People have become inundated
with the quan�ty of emails that find their way into their
inboxes, and before they know it, 3,000 emails have taken up
residence there. As a result, they become overwhelmed, stuck,
and don’t know what to do. Are you one of these people?
How would you feel …
• If your inbox had less than one screen’s worth of email?
• If you could find any email in a few seconds?
• If you didn’t miss important items because they weren’t
buried in your inbox with 2,999 other emails?
• If you felt peaceful and calm because you had regained
control of your email?
This is all possible and it can be your reality if you want.
How did our inboxes get to be overflowing?
We get more and more emails each day.
We fear dele�ng something because we think we might
need it someday.
We fear missing out on something good.
We don’t make decisions or we don’t make good decisions.
We have mul�ple email addresses and mul�ple devices to
manage.
We are inundated with many modes of communica�on
and infinite distrac�ons.
How to un-clu.er your inbox and make it work for you.
Inbox goal: Your inbox should only contain those emails that
are truly important and need your a.en�on.
Consider an overflowing inbox as a collec�on of decisions not
made. Either you don’t take the �me to decide where the
email needs to go or you don’t know where it needs to go.
Vow to make decisions about where emails should go so that
your inbox remains unclu.ered. Here are a few sugges�ons:
Taking Charge of Your Email Inbox 1. Unsubscribe from emails that are no longer
relevant to your life.
2. Automa�cally divert emails that you don’t need
to see immediately to appropriate folders for
later reading.
3. Delete emails you don’t really need to keep.
4. File emails that you need for future reference in
appropriate folders.
5. Act on emails that need your a.en�on and
then delete or file the email.
It is all about making decisions and being
determined to maintain an unclu.ered inbox so
that email once again becomes a tool to work for
you instead of being a full �me job in and of itself.
You can do it!
Bonnie Hillman Shay 847-494-0636 Professional Organizer specializing in residential organizing, photo organizing (printed and digital) and email management. Mariposa Creative Solutions [email protected] www.MariposCreativeSolutions.com
Page 3
BSSi2, www.bssi2.com, 847-551-4626, [email protected]
February 2015
35 Aztec Court
South Barrington, IL 60010
(847) 551-4626
www.bssi2.com
“We make all of your
computer problems go
away without the cost of
a full-time I.T. staff”
Review twice, Implement once. Doing IT right the first time.
Inquiring Minds...
Shiny New Gadget
Of The Month
This month’s gadget is so new, it isn’t even off the assembly line. Meet Prizm — a small, pyramid-shaped device designed to make your home-audio experience as hands-off as humanly possible. The device was recently backed on Kickstarter this past November. The French company behind the audio device wanted to create an intuitive music experience that brings users new music, while learning what they really love to listen to.
The device streams music from cloud services such as Deezer, Spotify and SoundCloud, with more services planned in the future. It works by accessing your WiFi network. It doesn’t contain any speakers, so you’ll have to supply your own (it connects via Bluetooth, 3.5 mm stereo jack and optical audio).
BSSi2 (847) 551-4626 www.bssi2.com
Feel like your computer is out of gas? Having network issues
that are delaying your daily operations? Give our IT professionals
a call today for your FREE Network Assessment. We will
inventory your current technology, check network security,
review your back-up solution and deliver a report including
outstanding issues and possible solutions. It’s amazing how a
simple review of your current operations can reveal cost and
time saving opportunities.
Claim your
FREE Network Assessment today!
Prizm
And despite being called hands-off, the device sports buttons to let you like or skip songs to customize your listening experience.
It can currently be pre-ordered from www.meetprizm.com for $139.
