Just when you thought it was safe to move along to other technical topics, along comes Scott Quimby’s Hardening Active Directory Part III to scare you even more. If you haven’t watched Part I and Part II, you can find them here. In Part III we will do a little review of some core topics […]

Hardening Active Directory Part III – More information from the front lines – Recording Available

Weekly Tech Tidbit – Rethinking SSLs
We harp on the fact that if you have *ANY* VPN, or remote access capabilities into your district, you *MUST* use a commercial SSL certificate and not a self-signed SSL – no exceptions. However, an area of growing frustration is that many current browsers are starting to give warnings about whether or not you should […]

Weekly Tech Tidbit – My One and Only “Sales” Post for 2019 – Acquiring Technology
All of us at CSI are techs at heart. We love talking about technical topics. However, we do also sell products. As you go into finalizing your 2019-2020 budgets and summer purchases I just wanted to point out that in 2018 CSI dramatically expanded the products and services we can directly offer you under valid […]

Weekly Tech Tidbit – Singing the RDP blues again……
Hopefully for most of you, this is old news, but I know how busy everyone gets, especially this time of year with the end of school coming upon us. So, in case you missed it Microsoft RDP has been back in the news again as the source in yet another serious vulnerability – dubbed BlueKeep […]

Weekly Tech Tidbit – Patch 3rd Party Applications
I was recently reading a security study that said that 25% of applications are unpatched for an entire year! As you approach the summer remember that you need to patch not only the operating system but also all your applications. Many of our biggest threats are application based: Adobe Flash Oracle Java Adobe Reader (PDFs) […]

Weekly Tech Tidbit – Remote Risks and Compliance Part I – Cloud Backup
Now that we have shifted to predominantly remote workers and remote teaching and learning, we have a number of new challenges as well as increased threats. Challenge #1 – Remote File Access. The solution is moving files from traditional home directories and traditional common drives to cloud-based shared folders and home directories.

Weekly Tech Tidbit – Network Time Matters – Fix It!
One of the most important principles of a good network design is accurate time. Windows time is a whole lot like the 1960s car clock – always drifting away from true time. However, very weird things start to happen if time on your network and servers and workstations is left to fend for itself.

Weekly Tech Tidbit – E-mail protection mechanisms – Employing DKIM
This tidbit is part two in a series on understanding some mechanisms available to you for protecting e-mail sent from your domain. We covered this topic in last month’s Tech Talk / SYSOP meetings but for all those that missed them or those that want a refresher, I am covering this again here in this […]

CSI Tech Talk Webinar – Windows Shared Folders & Data Leaks – Recording Available
We are so focused on our networks being breached and the bad guys gaining a foothold to steal our money and personally identifiable information that we often forget is that we as techs can make mistakes and inadvertently give away access to sensitive/confidential parts of the network.

Weekly Tech Tidbit – Doing Public/BYOD Wireless The Right Way
Bob and I have discussed over and over the need for improved public wireless configuration. Some of you have gotten the message. Sadly many have not. As we approach the summer, let’s get this fixed once and for all. Here are a few design changes many of you need to implement: If your endpoints in […]