Resources

  “I am watching you…Always watching” -Roz Monsters Inc. For New Year’s we once again had a holiday crisis. Fortunately, this wasn’t an attack. Microsoft had a 2022 date bug in Exchange that totally shut down the on-premise Exchange server’s ability to send emails worldwide.

  Boring Email Formatting = Improved Reliability We love to use graphics and links in our emails. There are lot cool tools. However, the reality is that your district sends emails out in bulk. Spammers do that too.

  It has been a very frustrating couple of months trying to keep everyone safe and stable. Since the Spring we have been pummeled by multiple Exchange exploits, a Microsoft 365 exploit, a bunch of printing exploits quickly followed by massive printing stability issues.

  With school districts now required to adopt the NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) for managing their IT operations, our district administrative and technology teams have just become responsible for ensuring that approximately 108 technical or management best practice outcomes are occurring each day in their IT operations.

  I have something hard that I really need you to do – audit your DNS. It takes a lot of time. It is boring to do. However, it is vital. The old network endpoint troubleshooting adage is true, “It is probably DNS”. I believe you really should audit your DNS at least once if […]

  I heard the other day that the FCC is moving to get more aggressive in getting phone carriers to do all they can do to block spam and robocalls. I absolutely hate those calls on my cell or house phone that get through the basic spam filter only to be told that “my car […]

  “Breakin’ Up Is Hard To Do” – Neil Sedaka 1966 In the last 10 days we talked about the attacks on VCenter and recommended urgent patching. (If you have not yet patched and need assistance, please reach out to us). Last week I read how one of the latest ransomware variants actively scours Active […]

  In August CISA added “Single Factor Authentication” to its list of practices it considers “exceptionally risky” as it exposes you to an “unnecessary risk from threat actors”. It has been officially added to CISA’s “Bad Practices Catalog”. My experience is that if CISA recommends it, Superintendent’s are much more amenable to implementing the recommendation.

  As I have gotten older I have developed claustrophobia. MRI machines are now my nemesis. Fortunately, I have not needed one in a long time. However, in my 43 years of working in IT there is another thing I am now afraid of – these internet-based attacks on our clients.

  I think by now everyone is officially open. I know some districts locally and in the Northeast had horrific transportation issues. I heard that the Governor of Massachusetts actually called out the National Guard to drive school buses to ensure that schools could open! These are crazy times, but we have to be creative […]