ISSUE 8 | | AUGUST 2012

THE SOURCE Tips To Make Your Business Run Faster,

Easier and More Profitably

1 Has Facebook Gone From Cool to

Creepy?

2 BYOD– Safe or Security Disaster?

3 Write to Mike

3 Client of the Month

4 Internet Has Run Out of IP Addresses!

I am sure most of you reading this have a Facebook account and use it regularly. Facebook is ubiquitous now and allows us to keep in touch with friends and family regardless of loca-tion. And, other than that weird uncle who is always posting inappropriate pictures, most of us find Facebook to be a valuable element of our digital lives. But is there a darker side? Do you have privacy concerns about Face-book?

When you think about it, Facebook has built an incredibly detailed data-base about each and every one of you. It knows where you live, when you were born, where you went to school, who your family members are, what you look like, where you work, the things you like, who your friends are, etc. thanks to a handy timeline fea-ture.

Has Facebook Gone From Cool To

Creepy? As a person who spends some time thinking about Marketing this is an INCREDIBLE database of potential pro-spects!! Of course, Facebook uses your information to target you with advertising and other messag-ing. Think your Facebook chats with users are private? Wrong. A recent Reuters article brought to light that Facebook is monitoring chat for cer-tain keywords and criminal activity and will notify authorities if needed. “Facebook’s software focuses on con-versations between members who have a loose relationship on the social network. For example, if two users aren’t friends, only recently became friends, have no mutual friends, inter-act with each other very little, have a significant age different, and/or are located far from each other, the tool pays particular attention. The scanning program looks for certain phrases found in previously obtained chat rec-ords from criminals, including sexual predators (because of the Reuters sto-ry, we know of at least one alleged child predator who is being brought before the courts as a direct result of Facebook’s chat scanning). The rela-tionship analysis and phrase material have to add up

before a Facebook employee actually looks at communications and makes the final decision of whether to ping the authorities.” I also just read an article this week that is warning users of Facebook about a new feature that could unexpectedly affect your reputa-tion. Facebook now has the ability to publish posts from organizations that you’ve “liked” under your name and puts them at the top of the News feed for friends. Some of these posts may include controversial political content that you wouldn’t choose to put out there. Some people are understanda-bly upset. Facebook’s response? It’s not a bug; it’s a feature. Facebook is a brilliant piece of soft-ware and one of the greatest software applications of all time. But, when you create your account at Facebook you are accepting their “Statement of Rights and Responsibilities” which can be found at http://www.facebook.com/

legal/terms. My advice to you is to carefully review all your Privacy settings on your Facebook account. Make sure you are only sharing what you want to share with others and then go enjoy some inappropriate posts by your weird uncle.

Bring Your Own Device To Work: Excellent Money–

Saving Idea Or Security Disaster Waiting To Happen?

Maybe you’ve heard the term “BYOB” (bring your own bottle) when you were invited to a party with some friends. Now a similar trend is happening in business called “BYOD” (bring your own device) where employees are bringing their smartphones, tablets and other devices to work.

Considering the cost of new hardware, this trend seems pretty attractive for small business owners. Employees show up already equipped with the devices they need to work; you just give them a username and password and you’re off to the races without as many out-of-pocket expenses as before. Plus, the employees are more than happy because they get to continue to use their device of choice. Cool? Maybe…

Based on surveys and chatter online from IT managers and executives, how to effectively monitor and manage employee-owned devices is murky at best; in many cases, this “wild west” device strategy is causing IT departments to work overtime to keep their network secure and data out of the wrong hands. For example, IBM started allowing employees to BYOD back in 2010. Approximately 80,000 of their 400,000 employees started using non-company owned smartphones and tablets to access internal networks. But instead of IBM saving money, this situation actually increased costs in certain areas, namely in the management and security of those devices. Because of this, IBM has established guidelines on which apps the employees can or can’t use. In addition, employee-owned devices are configured so that they can be wiped remotely in case devices are stolen or misplaced prior to being granted access to internal networks. Cloud-based file-transfer programs such as iCloud, Dropbox and even Siri, the voice-activated personal assistant, are not allowed. Employees with greater access to internal applications and files will also have their smartphones equipped with additional software that performs the appropriate data encryption.

The bottom line is this: If you are going to allow employees to use their own personal devices to connect to your network, you need to make sure they aren’t a conduit for viruses, hackers and thieves; after all, we ARE talking about your clients’ and company’s data here! That means written policies need to be in place along with 24/7 monitoring of the device to ensure that security updates are in place to watch for criminal activity. We also urge you to establish a policy for all employees who bring mobile devices into the workplace about what they can and cannot do with their devices. They might already be using their smartphone or tablet to access e-mail or company files without you even knowing it, leaving you exposed.

The South’s Summer Top 10 List

It has definitely been a hot summer

so far and fall is just around the corner. Here’s how you can tell if it

is Summer in the South.

10. You know it’s summer in the

South when the only time you can stand to be outside is when you’re

in a pool. 9. You know it’s summer in the

South when you can’t find

anywhere to sit it at your local ‘FREE’ Wi-Fi hangout.

8. You know it’s summer in the South when the best parking place

is determined by shade instead of

distance. 7. You know it’s summer in the

South when you learn that a seat belt buckle makes pretty good

branding iron. 6. You know it’s summer in the

South when a 90 degree breeze

seems ‘cool.’ 5. You know it’s summer in the

South when being ‘hot and bothered’ has nothing do with

romance.

4. You know it’s summer in the South when you see Willie Nelson

entering a barber shop 3. You know it’s summer in the

South when you have a serious internal debate as to whether

business casual definitely excludes

swimwear. 2. You know it’s summer in the

South when hot water now comes out of both taps.

1. You know it’s summer in the

South when you’re invited to an outdoor bbq and you want to know

if you can eat inside!

Page 2 Get More Free Tips, Tools, and Services at www.dev-source.com

Did you know we offer?

Backup and Disaster Recovery Cloud Computing

Hosted Email IT Consulting

Managed Services VoIP Phone Systems

“I read where

LinkedIn passwords

were stolen, what

should I do if my

network is

compromised?”

Back in June, over 6 million passwords

were reported stolen when a hacker was

able to access LinkedIn’s servers. Although I’m not privy to LinkedIn’s security

procedures, I’m sure they don’t take it lightly and have most likely invested a BIG

chunk of change to keep their data secure, money that the “average” small business

owner could never afford to logically spend.

Here is what you would need to do if your network was to ever be compromised.

The first step would be to identify what

type of attack it is what machines were

affected so you can quickly contain the damaged ones and protect your assets.

Naturally, you should meet with a security expect to make this containment happen

as quickly as possible to stop the bleeding. Next, you’ll want to notify any and all

parties affected as fast as possible. In

some cases, such as medical or financial information, you may be required by law to

report the incident not only to your clients, but also the authorities.

If you’re a DEVcare client, you can rest easy knowing we’re monitoring your

network against such attacks to limit your risks and protect your network.

Page 3 Get More Free Tips, Tools, and Services at www.dev-source.com

“Companies are realizing that enabling

employees to work from a location of their choice using their preferred technology, they are taking one of the single most

important steps in motivating business productivity.”

-Adriana Karaboutis, CIO, Dell

Client of the Month 2012 Recipients:

Livingston County Library, Sportable Scoreboards, Taylor Family Dental,

SBG/ The Kingdom Trust Company, Dwain Taylor Chevrolet and

Twin Lakes Dental Associates, and Murray Housing Authority.

Write to

Mike

Alert: The Internet Has Run Out

Of IP Addresses! Every computer or device on a network has a unique identifier known as an IP address. This ad-dress is just like your home address; it acts as a unique identifier so other computers can send and receive information to you. Most computer networks, including all computers connected to the Internet, use the TCP/IP protocol to communicate (think of it as the common language all computers use to talk to one another). The IP part of the “TCP/IP” is your IP address or unique identification number. In order for all communication to work, every computer connected to the Internet or within its own private network must have a unique IP address. Until the recent IPv6, there was only one standard for an IP address, which is made up of four groups of numbers separated by dots. For example: 216.27.61.137. This numbering convention gave us 232 possible combinations, or 4.3 billion unique addresses. Back in the early 80s when the Internet was just getting rolling, that was considered more than enough. Now with well over a billion people online and each person owning multiple devices requiring an IP address, 4.3 bil-lion just isn’t enough.IPv6 uses a 128-bit addressing system (where IPv4 used a 32-bit address-ing system) creating a massive number of possible new addresses and combinations. That mas-sive new total is 2 to the 128 power, or 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456. Fortunately, most devices and PCs manufactured within the last 5 years should have no prob-lem processing IPv6 addresses. However, older legacy systems that were engineered without IPv6 in mind will have problems. Of course, our clients won’t have to worry since we’re keeping up-to-date on IPv6 for you. But if you have any questions regarding IPv6 and how it will affect you, give us a call!

632 North 12th Street Suite 171

Murray, KY 42071