Support Ends for Windows 2000 and Windows XP Service Pack 2

As of July 13th, Microsoft announced they will no longer be offering support for all editions of Windows 2000 Server and Windows 2000 Professional, as well as Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) in accordance with the Microsoft Support Lifecycle policy. Essentially, this means they will no longer be developing and/or releasing security patches or non-security hotfixes for these products and advise users to migrate to the latest supported service pack and/or product.

What does this mean for your business?
Without Microsoft’s security updates, hotfixes and support, systems that are currently running Windows 2000 or Windows XP SP2 will be more susceptible to exploits, vulnerable to malware attacks, and a perfect target for hackers and cyber criminals. This poses a significant problem especially for those businesses that are required to meet specific security standards, such as HIPAA, PCI, and ISO, as these systems are NOT deemed compliant if they are not actively being updated.

What should your business do?
Due to the lack of, or limited access to, support for these products, Microsoft recommends users to upgrade to one of their more current products, such as Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008, which provide greater security, reliability, environment-friendly features and additional other benefits. Since this may not be a viable option for many businesses to implement at this time, Microsoft does offer a Custom Support feature for users to purchase who absolutely need additional support. However, in order to obtain this, users are required to have a migration plan in place prior to purchasing. More information and details on what specifically Microsoft offers with their Custom Support can be found at Microsoft Support.

If you need assistance on upgrading and implementing new Microsoft products onto your network, or if you would like information on how 3D can provide your business with network solutions that meet your needs, please visit us at http://www.3dcorp.us/, call (360) 671-4906, or email info@3dcorp.us.

References: http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifean46

Please note: As we have been receiving some questions since we published this post about whether or not Windows XP will continue to be supported by Microsoft, we thought we'd clarify that Microsoft is ending support for Windows XP Service Pack 2, not the Windows XP operating system as a whole. The most up-to-date service pack available for Windows XP is Service Pack 3. Generally speaking, this article is stating that if your copy of Windows XP is up-to-date with Service Pack 3, you have nothing to worry about. If it is out-of-date, you should update it or have us update it for your business. Please see the "Comments" section of this post for additional details.

A Lesson on Spam: Spoofing, Phishing and Bounce-Backs

Since the mid-1990’s, spam has become a typical email nuisance bringing most computer users a daily dose of annoyance and frustration. In fact, securelist.com estimates that spam constitutes 70 to 80% of all email traffic. Once simply defined as “any unsolicited anonymous bulk advertising email,” spam now takes on several different forms and continues to evolve. It is important for users to be able to recognize the following common types of spam in order to mitigate the risks of falling victim to online scams and/or computer viruses and jeopardizing the security of their business network.

Spoofing

The term “spoofing” is used to describe fraudulent emails in which the sender’s address and other parts of the email header have been altered to appear as though the email originated from a different source, often a stolen email address. Spammers obtain these stolen email addresses from websites, forums, discussion boards, blogs, or essentially anything that is published on the Internet and use them to create the ‘spoofed email.’ Although most spoofed e-mail falls into the "nuisance" category and requires little action other than deletion, the more malicious varieties, typically those that involve “phishing,” can cause serious problems and security risks for your business network.

Phishing

Phishing utilizes the spoofing technique by crafting the email to appear as if it came from a legitimate company, such as a bank, a retailer, or a government agency, in order to obtain information from the user. Typically, through these phishing emails, spammers will request the user’s personal account numbers, social security number, passwords, etc. and can ultimately steal the user’s identity if given this information.

Bounce-back

“Bounce-back,” also known as “backscatter,” is spam that is directly correlated with spoofing. The spammer typically finds the email address via the Web, uses it to create a spoofed email, and sends the message out to hundreds of thousands of recipients. When the spam gets sent to an address that no longer exists, it can sometimes be ‘bounced-back’ to the email address used to create the spoofed email. Often, this creates confusion with the user as they may think that the backscatter is a sign that their computer has been hacked and is sending out spam messages.

While spam in general is probably here to stay as spammers continue to find new, creative ways to fool us, there are several things a user can do to safeguard themselves from spoofing and phishing scams. General guidelines in regards to all email include:

1. If you don’t recognize the email’s sender, don’t open it.
2. Do not open any attachments or follow any links that you are not familiar with.
3. Be aware of the spelling, grammar, and punctuation in the email. Phishing emails are typically riddled with bad grammar and spelling.
4. Review hyperlinks before following them by hovering over a hyperlink—the website you will be directed to will usually appear in an information bubble of the lower right hand corner of the application.
5. If the email is requesting any sort of personal, login, or financial information OR is requesting you to login or change your current information…STOP, close the email and report it to your network administrator.

For additional details and tips on how to combat spam, please see our previous blog post “Eat Spam, Just Don’t Look at It.” If you would like more information on how 3D Corporation can provide security solutions to protect your business from spam and other threats to your network, visit our website at http://www.3dcorp.us/, call (360) 671-4906, or email info@3dcorp.us.

  

References: http://www.securelist.com/en/threats/spam?chapter=88, http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/145449/100_email_bouncebacks_youve_been_backscattered.html, http://www.consumerfraudreporting.org/spoofing.php

 

Recently-Released Documents Reflect Dell’s Decline

Efficiency, outsourcing, and low inventory – all terms that epitomize the “Dell Model,” an approach to business commonly taught at some of the most prestigious business schools in the nation. Dell, Inc., one of the largest technological companies in the world, was once rated by Fortune magazine as one of the most admired companies in its industry, most likely due to its unique techniques that fought to lower the price of computers and keep them affordable yet secure. However, according to a recent New York Times article, the company has been experiencing a steady decline for the last seven years due to poor customer service, product quality and accounting, and that recently-released documents from a major lawsuit filed against Dell directly reflect the company’s ongoing problems.

From 2003 to 2005, Dell sold millions of computers with faulty electrical components that were leaking chemicals and causing malfunctions. Dell conducted an internal study that found that the affected computers were expected to cause problems up to 97% of the time over a three year period. According to the documents from the lawsuit filed by Advanced Internet Technologies (A.I.T.), an internet services provider, instead of recalling the machines they knew were faulty, Dell covered up the problems by instructing its employees to blame its customers and “emphasize uncertainty” when dealing with complaints.

After receiving complaints from A.I.T., Dell insisted that A.I.T. had driven their 2,000 failing computers too hard in hot, confined spaces, and tried to sell them more expensive computers as a resolution. A.I.T. claims that it lost millions of dollars in business as a result, and therefore filed the lawsuit. The math department of the University of Texas received a similar response from Dell that claimed the problems with their malfunctioning computers were caused by the school overtaxing the machines by making them perform difficult math calculations. Dell also refused to fix 1,000 failing computers of the law firm defending them in the lawsuit.

Dell disputes the merit of the lawsuit filed by A.I.T. as it is now three years old and does not involve any of Dell’s current products. Dell also claims that it actively-investigated the failures and worked directly with customers to fix the computers on a case-by-case basis. Additionally, Dell considers this an industry-wide problem as computers produced by Hewlett-Packard, Apple and other computer manufacturers had the same problems as their machines also contained the same faulty components. According to the lawsuit’s documents, however, Dell appears to have suffered far more than its competitors as the failures affected its mainstream products, their OptiPlex desktop computers, millions of which were sold to businesses and government agencies for almost two years.

The New York Times claims the documents revealing Dell’s effort to conceal the problems with their faulty computers highlight the company’s rapid decline in the technology world in general. The company has been dealing with quality control and customer service issues for years, and may soon face another suit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission due to some serious accounting problems. Dell’s decline shows that a business model focused on efficiency, outsourcing and low inventory, although great in theory, apparently does not work in the absence of accountability.

If you would like more information on Dell or on how 3D can help you make informed purchasing decisions to fulfill your business’ computing needs, please call us at (360) 671-4906, email us at info@3dcorp.us, or visit our website at http://www.3dcorp.us/.

References: "Suit Over Faulty Computers Highlights Dell's Decline," New York Times, "The Fall of Dell: A Business Model Innovator Loses Its Way," PCWorld, "Dell on the Nichicon Capacitor Issue," Direct2Dell Blog