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FOLLINA – very basics you MUST know
On August 1st 2020 a gentleman known by the name of Benjamin Altpeter wrote a thesis. On one page tucked away inside was a description of an exploit within Microsoft office running on Windows. This issue was reported to Microsoft, but it is not yet clear why, after 22 months when it is rediscovered, it…
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Clive’s weekly Cyber Security roundup – 10 June 2022
The significant news this week is a zero-day vulnerability in Microsoft Word, that Microsoft has not yet patched – although they have published advice about the issue: Microsoft guidance for Office zero-day vulnerability – Follina – Smart Thinking Solutions The malware is called Follina and it uses macros as part of it’s attack and this…
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Is your Dad a geek? Do you need a present for Father’s Day?
Father’s Day is rapidly approaching – 19th June for those of you that need to know. Here is my annual “Geek Dad” present list. I have done the hard work of virtually shopping for you to find those gifts that geek Dads are sure to like. No affiliate links here – ideas, just for fun.…
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Clive’s weekly Cyber Security roundup – 3 June 2022
Sorry it is a little late this week as I took the Bank Holiday off – well nearly there were some posts on Smart Thinking. Let’s start with the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, we got a four day weekend and it was an excuse for me to run some technology stories from 1952: Platinum Jubilee Technology…
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Legacy
We had a customer passed our way this month who almost fell victim to “legacy.” LEGACY is a term manufacturers and developers use to describe their older products which are no longer cost effective to support fully. We are talking about things like Adobe Creative Suite 5, Microsoft Office 2013, first generation i7, even hybrid…
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Clive’s weekly Cyber Security roundup – 20 May 2022
There were two an interesting stories this week about privacy. The first was about how much our of our personal data is being sold and how that impacts on our privacy, so we can see adverts targeted at us. Just how much and often is your data shared? UPDATED 19 May 2022 – Smart Thinking…
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A stranger requested access to your mail
Request: Access to an email account by a third party Challenge: We had a call the other day from a relative of someone who is terminally ill. They were requesting access to their family member’s business email. Straightforward? No. We protect our clients’ information! Solution: I made the request to the person for a Power…
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Files won’t open, can’t save and are in use!
Problem Files in OneDrive / SharePoint cannot be opened, are already in use or cannot be attached to emails. Challenge Client called to report intermittent issues with files either not opening, not saving correctly or at all, and being unable to add to emails as attachments. Some files opening with 8.3 file names Eg …
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Making Tax Digital czyli cyfryzacja biznesu – wymóg, nie wybór!
Świat biznesu się zmienił, a wpływ na tą zmianę w ogromym stopniu miała panedmia, ale to już wiemy! Globalni dostawcy rozwiązań biznesowych takich jak Quickbooks (QB) podkreślają dwa istotne, po-pandemiczne trendy w świecie globalnego biznesu: 1. Rozpoczęła się era lockdownowych start-upów – w ubiegłym roku liczba start-upów wzrosła o 14%. 2. Takie po-pandemiczne start-upy…
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Goodbye to the iPod
Apple has announce that after 21 years of production, the iPod line will be discontinued. I have loved the iPods I have had – and luckily I got my my latest iPod Touch just a few weeks ago. Apple to discontinue the iPod after 21 years – BBC News ‘The spirit lives on’: Apple to…
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Clive’s weekly Cyber Security roundup – 13 May 2022
I have published several posts this week talking about the lowering cost and skill sets needed to run a successful cyber attack – such as infecting your systems with ransomware. This is because the well resourced cyber criminal gangs are renting their malware and other resources to less well resourced gangs. Therefore adopting the model…
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Omicron Scam
So I got this text last night. It looks normal enough, but it isn’t! The NHS doesn’t usually refer to itself as a health department although they do have other specific departments that they use. Also the link looks incorrect, it would usually be NHS related or have a .gov or a .uk address if…
