Keep Your Firmware Safe and Secure

December 29, 2020 by Paul Schwegler

Most of us can differentiate between hardware and software. But how many know what firmware refers to? More importantly, is your business securing its firmware against security vulnerabilities?

Your business knows it needs to keep its operating systems (OSs) up to date. Installing patches as they are released helps protect your OS and software applications from attack.

Yet firmware can be easily overlooked when setting up cyber protection. You’re opening up Explorer every day, and your business relies on its Excel spreadsheets, but you don’t think about the basic software that runs the hardware as intended – that’s the firmware.

Without firmware, your computer wouldn’t know how to detect its hard drive, and the gears on the business printer wouldn’t spin to pull the paper through the device. There’s firmware in network and sound cards, routers, range extenders, keyboards, and more. Firmware also makes your webcam or surveillance camera work correctly.

The Need to Update Firmware

Cyber-criminals aren’t known for their lazy reliance on just one tactic. Instead, they are constantly finding new ways to exploit business devices and systems, and this includes attacking firmware. Without securing your firmware, you run the risk of bad actors:

spying on business activity;
stealing business data;
taking control of your business computers.

You may think you’re safe because you have antivirus scans in place, but hackers can get around those by embedding their malware in your firmware. In the past, they could guess firmware manufacturers weren’t prioritizing security. That’s changing now that firmware exploits have gained attention.

Manufacturers release firmware updates for at least a few years after initial release. The goal is to ensure the stability of that device your business depends upon.

Find firmware updates online at the manufacturer’s website. You might also look on the device support page. Make it a policy to consistently seek out firmware release updates. That way, the business is up to date with new patches to fix holes or fresh vulnerabilities.

Taking Care of Business Firmware

Too many people aren’t thinking about the firmware threat; it’s a set-it-and-forget-it problem. Once people set up their devices, they don’t think about the possibility of a future compromise.

For example, in last year’s Avast Threat Landscape Report, 60 percent of users had never updated router firmware. Yet router hijackers can inject malicious HTML and gain access to usernames and passwords.

Businesses are growing more reliant on technology, particularly connected technology. (Thank you, Wi-Fi and Internet of Things.) This is also expanding the attack surface available to cyber bad guys. Don’t become complacent. Apply patches when issued to all business connections and technology.

Now you know what firmware is and why it matters, that doesn’t mean you’re any closer to being able to actually update it all. Partner with one of our technicians. We can do an audit of all your firmware and find any holes that need plugging. Give us a call today at (515)422-1995!

Keep Up to Date by Outsourcing

November 27, 2017 by Paul Schwegler

Updating your business software is one of your best protections against cyber-attack, but actually going through and running the updates is a task that often gets overlooked. I would go as far as saying that keeping your equipment and software up-to-date is as important as having an antivirus program on all of your machines.

Emergency updates are a killer

Just between us, most businesses update their software only when the repair techs come to fix a major breakage. The techs run the updates before they leave, then the systems sit there with ever-widening security gaps… until another breach happens and the techs are called back for another band-aid solution. Emergency only updates in a break/fix model are a great little earner for those techs, not so good for your uptime or budget.

Finding time for maintenance

To keep your business up and running securely, you need someone who lives and breathes updates. They’ll need to have top tech skills so they know when and how to apply all the patches, and how to make sure all your other tech is playing nice (and do it all after-hours). If you have an in-house IT specialist, you’re set – and they should already have an update plan. But if you don’t have a qualified IT team member, outsourcing to managed services is the perfect solution. You get highly skilled technicians remotely applying your network updates after hours.

For the DIY’er

Many businesses may not think they have the budget for outsourcing IT to another company. I would personally argue that it costs you more in the long run, but that’s me…If you really do want to keep up-to-date on your own, there is a program I can suggest to make your life easier. PatchMyPC Free Updater is a program that will automatically look for installed programs and install any necessary updates. It does not perform Windows updates, and it has to be run manually, but instead of downloading and running each program separately, this one can do it all in one click. Download it to the desktop and run it every week on each machine to make sure things stay current!

What else needs to be checked?

Beyond running security patches, it’s important to keep your business moving forward. Here are a few areas our techs look at as part of managed services:

Hardware health: The last thing you want is days of downtime after a piece of hardware dies a spectacular death, dragging other components down with it. By not staying on top of your hardware health, you’re opening yourself up to lost productivity, lost income and unknown delays. Remote monitoring software can immediately alert to failures in critical components like hard drives.

Operating system expiry: While it’s great that you have a preferred OS, keeping it after the manufacturer ceases support can leave your business wide open for attack. It’s simply not a good combination. If you are still using Windows XP or Vista in your business environment, we need to talk!

Legacy programs: Updates to your software have the potential to disrupt older programs, either resulting in errors, slow performance or even downtime. With technology advancing so fast, we often find additional requirements with an update, such as extra processing power, memory or graphics.

Why Your Windows Updates are More Important Than Ever

June 5, 2017 by Paul Schwegler

Why Your Windows Updates Are More Important Than Ever

In recent news, the ransomware WannaCry swept the world, knocking out computers in an instant. It hit businesses, government and police departments and of course the NHS hospitals in the UK. It was a mess! Affected users had all their files encrypted and couldn’t get them back unless they paid a ransom of around $300. This attack was particularly bad because it took advantage of a Windows vulnerability to spread itself from network to network. What wasn’t clear in the media though, was that home users were also exposed to the attack – but only those with a vulnerable Windows installation.

One simple security patch, issued by Microsoft months before the attack was all it took to create a no-entry zone for WannaCry. This just stresses the importance of keeping your Windows up to date at all times, no matter what you use your computer for or how often.

Updates Explained
Whenever Microsoft discovers a potential flaw, they push out a small piece of software to all Windows computers running a supported version. If set correctly, your computer will check if there’s any updates or patches and install them automatically. In new versions, this usually happens when you’re shutting down or starting up, and doesn’t impact your experience at all. Unfortunately, some users will manually disable or delay their updates, creating a risky situation.

The update may include security patches, drivers or a simple tweak to address bugs or issues with Windows. Sometimes, they even include new features or applications to improve the stability of your operating system. They’re a good thing!

Not All Versions Get Updates
Some older operating systems are no longer supported, which means unless there are extenuating circumstances, Microsoft won’t issue any new updates. Not a single one – generally, if cyber criminals discover a flaw after support ends, they’re free to exploit it. For example, Windows XP support ended in 2014, and Windows Vista just ended in April this year. The moment an operating system is retired it becomes a playground for cyber-criminals.

It’s not just Microsoft walking away from these old versions either. Third party software like the Google Chrome browser will still work, but they’ve also stopped supporting old versions with crucial updates and patches. It might seem like everything is working fine because your anti-virus isn’t pinging in alarm, but it just becomes a case of risk, upon risk, upon risk.

What to do with older Windows
As much as you’re comfortable with your older version of Windows, each time you boot up you’re exposing your system, important files and entire network. It only takes one weak entry point in the chain to allow malware into all connected devices. That could mean your photo storage, media center or even smart appliances. It’s not worth it – if you’re running Windows XP or Vista (or older), you need to update to a more modern operating system ASAP. Give us a call to upgrade your computer.

We can also monitor your system remotely and apply your Windows updates with our Managed Services packages, ensuring you are always up to date and protected.