Here is the reason your antivirus isn’t working anymore

Irvine, CA - Even the biggest of the antivirus software vendors are beginning to give up the fight against malware. The traditional ways of fighting just don’t work anymore. It is too reactive and labor intensive… not to mention just inherently flawed at this point. If you have been to our lunch and learns the past couple of years you know that at Alvaka Networks we down-play significantly the role and importance of firewalls and AV software. Sure you need them, but oftentimes users rely on those two tactics at the neglect of other often more important and effective solutions. If you want a comprehensive solution based upon tools you likely already own you should read this – What 12 Security Things Should I Focus on to Be Defensible in 2016? These are just as valid for 2017.

What is the breaking news on the demise of antivirus software as we know it? Well, it simply does not work well today and in the future. Here is a link to...

Here is the reason your antivirus isn’t working anymore2017-06-27T15:53:49-07:00

Alvaka Networks is growing – T minus 2 days

Irvine, CA – The movers finished delivering all our personal property from the old building. I got my basic office functions set-up tonight and my most important personal items put away. There are still some boxes to unpack and pictures to hang. Some others have done the same. Some offices are still dumping zones and in complete disarray. Most of that will get organized for tomorrow. There is the most basic semblance of an office system starting to come together. By tomorrow night is should be vastly better. We still plan to be completely operational at 7 AM Tuesday morning, but the unpacking won’t be complete.

T minus 2 days to moving-in.  Click Here for the Pictures

 

The move-ology countdown:

Alvaka Networks is growing and moving into new Irvine offices - T minus 6 days

Alvaka Networks is growing and moving into new Irvine offices - T minus 5 days

Alvaka Networks is growing and moving into new Irvine offices - T minus 4 days

Alvaka Networks is growing - T minus 3 days to moving-in

Alvaka Networks is growing - T minus 2 days

https://www.alvaka.net/blog/t-minus-1

Alvaka Networks is growing – T minus 2 days2016-10-31T06:27:57-07:00

Alvaka Networks is growing and moving into larger new Irvine offices

Irvine, CA - We are not going too far. We are only moving about two miles. We are now adjacent to the overflow/long-term parking for the John Wayne/SNA Airport. We are at the corner of Main Street and Redhill at 2 Executive Circle in Irvine.

Everyone at Alvaka is really excited to be moving into our new larger headquarters. Here are a few pictures of the new space after demolition and before the new construction starts. These photos show some of the painting that just started.

T minus 7 days to moving-in.  Click Here for the Pictures

Alvaka Networks is growing and moving into new Irvine offices - T minus 6 days

Alvaka Networks is growing and moving into new Irvine offices - T minus 5 days

Alvaka Networks is growing and moving into new Irvine offices - T minus 4 days

Alvaka Networks is growing - T minus 3 days to moving-in

Alvaka Networks is growing - T minus 2 days

https://www.alvaka.net/blog/t-minus-1

Alvaka Networks is growing and moving into larger new Irvine offices2019-09-05T21:52:15-07:00

A three bullet summary of your current e-mail threats

Proofpoint Threat Operations and Research recently published their quarterly threat report for July - September 2016, which includes key findings such as: 

  • Volume of malicious emails rose to their highest levels ever
    New campaigns bearing varied attachment types broke volume records set in Q2, peaking at hundreds of millions of messages per day. JavaScript attachments continued to lead these very large email campaigns, growing 69% this quarter.
  • Ransomware variants grew tenfold
    In particular, 97% of messages with malicious document attachments featured the popular ransomware strain Locky, while CryptXXX was the dominant ransomware delivered by exploit kit (EK).

Download the full report. Please let us know if you have any questions related to this report or how Alvaka Networks can protect your people and data from attacks.

A three bullet summary of your current e-mail threats2016-10-24T13:44:00-07:00

Beware of this new domain name and SEO registration scam

Orange County, CA - I want to thank Alvaka network engineer Alex Estevez for bringing the e-mail below to my attention. One of his clients got this bogus message from GoDaddy. The scams on the internet know no ends for creativity and treachery.

This message looks so authentic and it can be so easy to go ahead and pay for a scam renewal and give up your domain login credentials too. Once you give up those credentials the thief(s) can potentially sell your domain name. For many businesses that would be devastating even if it only lasted a short time while the theft gets corrected. On top of the charge on your card they could potentially sell your credit card information as well.

Alex said, “What made me suspicious was the fact that the email came from a company called “Intranetregistrarnetwork.com” which just sounded bogus to me.“ That site is now shutdown, but count on another one to pop-up soon.

Here is what the e-mail looked like. As you can see it looks quite legitimate. It does not contain the spelling errors and poor grammar associated with so many e-mail scams....

Beware of this new domain name and SEO registration scam2024-04-21T19:41:30-07:00

The coming of the Strategic Service Provider

Orange County, CA - “Robert Faletra, CEO of The Channel Company, which publishes CRN, said the evolution toward the Strategic Service Provider model marks the fourth major shift in channel nomenclature since the publication's founding in 1982. When the channel was born its constituents were known as Resellers, a business model CRN declared essentially dead in 1990 in favor of VARs (value-added resellers). VARs evolved into Solution Providers, a term that incorporates both Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and Cloud Service Providers (CSPs). And now CRN heralds the dawn of the Strategic Service Provider era.”

That is what Steven Burke wrote recently in a story titled, The New Channel Model: Rise Of The Strategic Service Provider.

What is the “channel” and who is CRN? The channel is a term coined long ago by the folks at computer industry publication CRN back in the early 1980s when they were known as Computer Reseller News. The channel, as it is known, is the group of players that brings to you, the end-user, all the PCs, servers, monitors, Microsoft Windows, Adobe products, network cables, printers, scanners, et al that you buy constantly. The channel is your computer dealer and the...

The coming of the Strategic Service Provider2016-06-15T23:27:37-07:00

Be Ransomware Aware

Educate your users - Don’t let them be tricked into downloading malware

 Everyone should follow this advice:

  1. Be very cautious when opening an attachment or clicking a link in an email, instant message, or post on social networks (like Facebook)—even if you know the sender. If you are suspicious, call to ask the sender if they sent it.  If not, delete it.
  2. The attack can look like it is from an official sources like banks, UPS, FedEx, USPS, eFax, etc. This has been the most common attack method to date.
  3. If an e-mail gets blocked and quarantined by your spam filter...
Be Ransomware Aware2016-02-29T22:28:51-08:00

I Am a Non-Technical Executive: What Seven Things Should I Be Asking My IT Guys About IT Security?

Irvine, CA - Overseeing IT and security is a daunting task, even if you are an IT professional. If you are an executive to whom IT reports, then the task becomes near impossible. The list of following questions is designed to empower you to have a meaningful discussion with your IT team so you can be an informed and responsible manager pursuing your due diligence role in protecting the assets of your firm. If you are an IT professional, these are questions you should be prepared to answer.

1.       Q. When did we last do a risk assessment? Please share that document with me. I would particularly like to see the Risk Assessment Table.

A.      Make sure your IT team is periodically assessing the risks to your IT systems.  They should be recommending upgrades and new solutions for you from time-to-time, and you should be listening.  They need to be able to express the threat in operational and economic terms in order to justify the expenditure.  If your team can’t give you a clear and coherent answer on when and how they last did this, send them off with a task and a deadline.

2.       Q. When did we last do a Vulnerability Scan? What were the results of that scan? I would like to see the report.  Who did the remediation? When is our next scan planned?...

I Am a Non-Technical Executive: What Seven Things Should I Be Asking My IT Guys About IT Security?2021-01-28T18:23:01-08:00

New Virulent, Wide-Spread and Expensive Ransomware Outbreak Coming to You Soon

Orange County, CA - We have seen a surge in ransomware attacks in the past week.  While only two Alvaka clients have gotten hit, they are a tale of different system administration acumen. 

1.  A multi-state firm got hit with the latest breed of ransomware on Friday.  Where an otherwise non-event for the most part went wrong was that a key user insisted on having elevated administrative rights for their IT infrastructure.  Instead of using a regular user account, with very limited user rights for day-to-day activities, this more powerful account, when struck by the ransomware, infected all the important file shares of the firm, including the branch location file stores.  Fortunately they had good backups, but because of poor folder naming conventions and structures it took the guys in our Alvaka Networks’ Network Operations Center about 28 hours straight to get all the user permissions back in order for client to get back to work.  The lack of least-permissions as used by this client goes in direct opposition to what we recommend at Alvaka.  Least-permissions is the practice of using accounts that grant the user to only the locations on the network for which they have a business need to access.

2.  In another example, that struck today, a $200m manufacturer/distributor got hit by the same ransomware.  This time it was a Jr executive.  He saw some problems with his system, but did not report the problem not knowing what it was and went home.  The problem was detected after he left, but the outcome was very different than the prior scenario.  Why?  Because this user only...

New Virulent, Wide-Spread and Expensive Ransomware Outbreak Coming to You Soon2024-03-14T00:20:41-07:00