Netiquette IQ: 2017-08-27

Saturday, September 2, 2017

Good Netiquette (What Does It Do for You?) Netiquette IQ Blog For 9/2/17

Buy the books at

www.amazon.com/author/paulbabicki
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Good Netiquette (What Does It Do for You?)

“There is no room for margin of error.”

—Yogi Berra

There are various benefits of using Netiquette, including that it

· gives you an edge over other email users

· empowers results when you go on job interviews and send out résumés

· fosters traditional letter-writing quality and effectiveness

· offers a means to incorporate a sense of process in your communications

· assists you in focusing on what you want to say and how to say it.

During the past several years, I have devoted many hours to evaluating and researching Netiquette to summarize and emphasize best practices for making almost anyone’s emails better. Additionally, I believe that I have put together the information that will allow this to happen quickly—a fast-track method. In my blog posts (http://netiquetteiq.blogspot.com); in my first book, Netiquette IQ: A Comprehensive Guide to Improve, Enhance and Add Power to Your Email; and now in this second book, I have mentioned that the slightest edge can make all the difference for any job seeker. The smallest error can result in your email being abandoned and your résumé never read. Just imagine if this happens and you are the best candidate!

Good Netiquette will not just give you a small edge; rather, it will offer a big advantage. Unlike a human IQ or a career skill such as law, medicine, or the like, Netiquette IQ (NIQ) can be improved upon very quickly. Using the NIQ process, after 60 minutes, a discernable difference will occur. However, the concept and purpose of this book is to go beyond the initial Netiquette Quick Start (NQS) by providing additional tools and information to assist you in going forward. In addition to the NQS, each item in this book has more detailed information and, in many cases, samples to assist the reader in greater detail. Finally, the book provides a significant and practical set of appendices to serve as a library to add power to your email or to clarify many issues related to email.
==================================================================== Good Netiquette And A Green Internet To All!
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Tabula Rosa Systems - Tabula Rosa Systems (TRS) is dedicated to providing Best of Breed Technology and Best of Class Professional Services to our Clients. We have a portfolio of products which we have selected for their capabilities, viability and value. TRS provides product, design, implementation and support services on all products that we represent. Additionally, TRS provides expertise in Network Analysis, eBusiness Application Profiling, ePolicy and eBusiness Troubleshooting. We can be contacted at:

sales@tabularosa.net or 609 818 1802.

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In addition to this blog, Netiquette IQ has a website with great assets which are being added to on a regular basis. I have authored the premiere book on Netiquette, “Netiquette IQ - A Comprehensive Guide to Improve, Enhance and Add Power to Your Email". My new book, “You’re Hired! Super Charge Your Email Skills in 60 Minutes. . . And Get That Job!” has just been published and will be followed by a trilogy of books on Netiquette for young people. You can view my profile, reviews of the book and content excerpts at:

www.amazon.com/author/paulbabicki

Anyone who would like to review the book and have it posted on my blog or website, please contact me paul@netiquetteiq.com.

In addition to this blog, I maintain a radio show on BlogtalkRadio and an online newsletter via paper.li.I have established Netiquette discussion groups with Linkedin and Yahoo. I am also a member of the International Business Etiquette and Protocol Group and Minding Manners among others. I regularly consult for the Gerson Lehrman Group, a worldwide network of subject matter experts and I have been contributing to the blogs Everything Email and emailmonday . My work has appeared in numerous publications and I have presented to groups such as The Breakfast Club of NJ and PSG of Mercer County, NJ.

Additionally, I am the president of Tabula Rosa Systems, a “best of breed” reseller of products for communications, email, network management software, security products and professional services. Also, I am the president of Netiquette IQ. We are currently developing an email IQ rating system, Netiquette IQ, which promotes the fundamentals outlined in my book.

Over the past twenty-five years, I have enjoyed a dynamic and successful career and have attained an extensive background in IT and electronic communications by selling and marketing within the information technology marketplace.

Friday, September 1, 2017

Netiquette Email Basics - Form Tabula Rosa Systems 9/1/17 - From Netiquette IQ

Buy the books at

www.amazon.com/author/paulbabicki
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Thwarting cybersecurity threats with behavioral analytics in 2017

By Clint Boulton

Companies are investing more money in emerging technologies that can help anticipate and detect a variety of threats, including phishing scams and advanced persistent threats, both of which are weighing heavily on the minds’ of corporate board members. For 2017 CIOs are eyeing tools that use anomaly-detecting analytics and machine learning algorithms to protect their companies’ data.

“Our level of investments is increasing because of the increasing capabilities of the threat actors,” says Bob Worrall, CIO of Juniper Networks, who spent 12 percent more on cybersecurity tools in 2016 that he spent in 2015. His budget will increase more in 2017 as he purchases tools to shield Juniper’s corporate data and intellectual property. “As the bad guys get smarter we have to as well.”

Bob Worrall, CIO of Juniper Networks.

Cybersecurity spending has seen a significant uptick since the watershed 2013 breach at Target and has continued throughout massive breaches at Home Depot, Anthem and Sony Pictures. The latest high-profile corporate victim is Yahoo, which reported in September that hackers had pilfered account information of more than 500 million customers and revealed last week that hackers made off with information on 1 billion users in 2013. The distinct hacks leveraged flaws in Yahoo's defenses, including a cryptography standard many experts deemed insufficient.

The omnipresent threats, in which perpetrators sometimes burrow into networks and quietly steal information for several months or years, are why Gartner says cybersecurity spending will top $82 billion in 2016, an 8 percent hike from 2015. Concerned CIOs are imploring corporate boards to let them invest in cutting-edge technology that protect and thwart attacks.

Proactive protection is the key

Worrall says he currently uses three predictive analytics tools that detect anomalous network access, such as when someone using an employee’s valid Juniper credentials accesses information they don't normally access for work.

Such digital forensics can also determine whether the malicious actor was pinging the network from another country, as well as other details that help "stitch together various events and detect anomalous behavior humans couldn’t detect," Worrall says. Each of Juniper’s behavioral analytics tools fills a gap in network protection, says Worrall, who declined to name the tools because he did not to invite hackers to probe his security defenses.

Mike Kail, chief innovation officer at Cybric.

Using artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies will help companies take a more proactive approach to corporate defense, says Mike Kail, chief innovation officer at startup Cybric, which focuses on integrating security as software is created.

But Kail, who was Yahoo's CIO when the first hack purportedly tool place, says that companies must integrate such tools with technologies and business processes for validating user authentication and authorization. He says that such a solution could leverage blockchain, the digital ledger software that ensures trust between parties exchanging cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, will emerge in 2017.

Boards free up budget but expect proof of protection

It’s no secret that boards are loosening the purse strings for cybersecurity but CIOs will continue to struggle to balance their cyber investments against managing risks to their businesses. Put another way: The choice between what to buy, implement and tune first -- the shiny new behavioral analytics platform or the latest and greatest business email compromise stopper -- poses prioritization challenges many CIOs aren't accustomed to in this age of cyber warfare.

Worrall says that even if their boards allocate more funds for cybersecurity, CIOs need to beware of budget abuse. Those who take the “sky is falling” approach become chicken little, he says. One advantage Worrall has working for a networking technology company is that his tech savvy board grasps the intricacies of cyber defense.

"I can have a conversation about risks at a technical level many of my CIOs peers can’t at other organizations," Worrall says. He says he is fortunate that he can discuss business risks with his board that focus on mitigating risks to the point of immateriality rather than the cost of cyber tools.

Evidence that boards have become more attuned to cyber risk has materialized in executive recruitment, where companies are looking for savvy leaders who can articulate security risks in a way that business leaders can easily grasp.

Gerry McNamara, global managing director of the information officers practice at executive recruiter Korn/Ferry International, says that his corporate boards are interested in finding CIO and CISOs candidates who can help accelerate their businesses’ cyber profiles relative to their peers.

“The boards are really engaged in digital and cyber right now, asking: Where are we on cyber? Are we protected? Are we keeping our information private? How do you know that it is? Prove to me that it is,” McNamara says. “We have a lot of work going on in cyber mapping of talent.”

Unfortunately, even the best talent and the latest technologies aren’t enough in an era when politicians such as John Podesta and the other folks at DNC as well as top executives can be duped to click on a malicious email whose origin and content appear innocuous, or a user puts the wrong USB into their PC.

“What we’ve all learned unfortunately is that humans are the weakest link in security,” Worrall says. “You can put up the biggest castle wall but as soon as one person connects an infected laptop to the network, it’s game over.”

This story, "Thwarting cybersecurity threats with behavioral analytics in 2017" was originally published by CIO.

Join the Network World communities on Facebook and LinkedIn to comment on topics that are top of mind.

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Good Netiquette And A Green Internet To All!
=====================================================================
Tabula Rosa Systems - Tabula Rosa Systems (TRS) is dedicated to providing Best of Breed Technology and Best of Class Professional Services to our Clients. We have a portfolio of products which we have selected for their capabilities, viability and value. TRS provides product, design, implementation and support services on all products that we represent. Additionally, TRS provides expertise in Network Analysis, eBusiness Application Profiling, ePolicy and eBusiness Troubleshooting. We can be contacted at:

sales@tabularosa.net or 609 818 1802.

Thursday, August 31, 2017

Netiquette IQ technical Term Of The Day - DSC Pull Server

Buy the books at

www.amazon.com/author/paulbabicki
====================================================

DSC pull server

A DSC pull server (desired state configuration pull server) is an automation server that allows configurations to be maintained on many servers, computer workstations and devices across a network.
DSC pull servers use Microsoft Windows PowerShell DSC's declarative scripting to maintain current version software and also monitor and control the configuration of computers and services and the environment they run in. This capacity makes DSC pull servers very useful for administrators, allowing them to ensure reliability and interoperability between machines by stopping the configuration drift that can occur through making individual machine setting changes over time.
DSC pull servers use PowerShell or Windows Server 2012 and client servers must be running Windows Management Framework (WMF) 4. Microsoft has also developed PowerShell DSC for Linux.
Examples of how built-in DSC resources automation can configure and manage a set of computers or devices include:

Enabling or disabling server roles and features.
Managing registry settings.
Managing files and directories.
Starting, stopping, and managing processes and services.
Managing groups and user accounts.
Deploying new software.
Managing environment variables.
Running Windows PowerShell scripts.
Fixing configurations that drift away from the desired state.
Discovering the actual configuration state on a given client.

==================================================================== Good Netiquette And A Green Internet To All!
=====================================================================
Tabula Rosa Systems - Tabula Rosa Systems (TRS) is dedicated to providing Best of Breed Technology and Best of Class Professional Services to our Clients. We have a portfolio of products which we have selected for their capabilities, viability and value. TRS provides product, design, implementation and support services on all products that we represent. Additionally, TRS provides expertise in Network Analysis, eBusiness Application Profiling, ePolicy and eBusiness Troubleshooting. We can be contacted at:

sales@tabularosa.net or 609 818 1802.

Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Netiquette IQ Blog of 8/30/17 - WannaCry Kill-Switch(ed)? It’s Not Over! WannaCry 2.0 Ransomware Arrives

from thehackernews.com Saturday, May 13, 2017 Swati Khandelwal

WannaCry Kill-Switch(ed)? It’s Not Over! WannaCry 2.0 Ransomware Arrives

Update — After reading this article, if you want to know, what has happened so far in past 4 days and how to protect your computers from WannaCry, read our latest article "WannaCry Ransomware: Everything You Need To Know Immediately."

If you are following the news, by now you might be aware that a security researcher has activated a "Kill Switch" which apparently stopped the WannaCry ransomware from spreading further.

But it's not true, neither the threat is over yet.

However, the kill switch has just slowed down the infection rate.

Updated: Multiple security researchers have claimed that there are more samples of WannaCry out there, with different 'kill-switch' domains and without any kill-switch function, continuing to infect unpatched computers worldwide (find more details below).

So far, over 237,000 computers across 99 countries around the world have been infected, and the infection is still rising even hours after the kill switch was triggered by the 22-years-old British security researcher behind the twitter handle 'MalwareTech.'

Also Read — Google Researcher Finds Link Between WannaCry Attacks and North Korea.

For those unaware, WannaCry is an insanely fast-spreading ransomware malware that leverages a Windows SMB exploit to remotely target a computer running on unpatched or unsupported versions of Windows.

So far, Criminals behind WannaCry Ransomware have received nearly 100 payments from victims, total 15 Bitcoins, equals to USD $26,090.

Once infected, WannaCry also scans for other vulnerable computers connected to the same network, as well scans random hosts on the wider Internet, to spread quickly.

The SMB exploit, currently being used by WannaCry, has been identified as EternalBlue, a collection of hacking tools allegedly created by the NSA and then subsequently dumped by a hacking group calling itself "The Shadow Brokers" over a month ago.

"If NSA had privately disclosed the flaw used to attack hospitals when they *found* it, not when they lost it, this may not have happened," NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden says.

Kill-Switch for WannaCry? No, It's not over yet!

In our previous two articles, we have put together more information about this massive ransomware campaign, explaining how MalwareTech accidentally halted the global spread of WannaCry by registering a domain name hidden in the malware.

hxxp://www[.]iuqerfsodp9ifjaposdfjhgosurijfaewrwergwea[.]com

The above-mentioned domain is responsible for keeping WannaCry propagating and spreading like a worm, as I previously explained that if the connection to this domain fails, the SMB worm proceeds to infect the system.

Fortunately, MalwareTech registered this domain in question and created a sinkhole – tactic researchers use to redirect traffic from the infected machines to a self-controlled system. (read his latest blog post for more details)

Updated: Matthieu Suiche, a security researcher, has confirmed that he has found a new WannaCry variant with a different domain for kill-switch function, which he registered to redirect it to a sinkhole in an effort to slows down the infections.

hxxp://ifferfsodp9ifjaposdfjhgosurijfaewrwergwea[.]com/

The newly discovered WannaCry variant works exactly like the previous variant that wreaked havoc across the world Friday night.

But, if you are thinking that activating the kill switch has completely stopped the infection, then you are mistaken.

Since the kill-switch feature was in the SMB worm, not in the ransomware module itself., "WannaCrypt ransomware was spread normally long before this and will be long after, what we stopped was the SMB worm variant," MalwareTech told The Hacker News.

You should know that the kill-switch would not prevent your unpatched PC from getting infected, in the following scenarios:

· If you receive WannaCry via an email, a malicious torrent, or other vectors (instead of SMB protocol).

· If by chance your ISP or antivirus or firewall blocks access to the sinkhole domain.

· If the targeted system requires a proxy to access the Internet, which is a common practice in the majority of corporate networks.

· If someone makes the sinkhole domain inaccessible for all, such as by using a large-scale DDoS attack.

MalwareTech also confirmed THN that some "Mirai botnet skids tried to DDoS the [sinkhole] server for lulz," in order to make it unavailable for WannaCry SMB exploit, which triggers infection if the connection fails. But "it failed hardcore," at least for now.

WannaCry 2.0, Ransomware With *NO* Kill-Switch Is On Hunt!

Initially, this part of story was based on research of a security researcher, who earlier claimed to have the samples of new WannaCry ransomware that comes with no kill-switch function. But for some reason, he backed off. So, we have removed his references from this story for now.

However, shortly after that, we were confirmed by Costin Raiu, the director of global research and analysis team at Kaspersky Labs, that his team had seen more WannaCry samples on Friday that did not have the kill switch.

"I can confirm we've had versions without the kill switch domain connect since yesterday," told The Hacker News.

Updated: WannaCry 2.0 is Someone Else's Work

Raiu from Kaspersky shared some samples, his team discovered, with Suiche, who analysed them and just confirmed that there is a WannaCrypt variant without kill switch, and equipped with SMB exploit that would help it to spread rapidly without disruption.

What's even worse is that the new WannaCry variant without a kill-switch believed to be created by someone else, and not the hackers behind the initial WannaCry ransomware.

"The patched version matt described does attempt to spread. It's a full set which was modified by someone with a hex editor to disable the kill switch," Raiu told me.

Updated: However, Suiche also confirmed that the modified variant with no kill switch is corrupted, but this doesn't mean that other hackers and criminals would not come up with a working one.

"Given the high profile of the original attack, it's going to be no surprise at all to see copycat attacks from others, and perhaps other attempts to infect even more computers from the original WannaCry gang. The message is simple: Patch your computers, harden your defences, run a decent anti-virus, and - for goodness sake - ensure that you have secure backups." Cyber security expert Graham Cluley told The Hacker News.

Expect a new wave of ransomware attack, by initial attackers and new ones, which would be difficult to stop, until and unless all vulnerable systems get patched.

"The next attacks are inevitable, you can simply patch the existing samples with a hex editor and it'll continue to spread," Matthew Hickey, a security expert and co-founder of Hacker House told me.

"We will see a number of variants of this attack over the coming weeks and months so it's important to patch hosts. The worm can be modified to spread other payloads not just WCry and we may see other malware campaigns piggybacking off this samples success."

Even after WannaCry attacks made headlines all over the Internet and Media, there are still hundreds of thousands of unpatched systems out there that are open to the Internet and vulnerable to hacking.

"The worm functionality attempts to infect unpatched Windows machines in the local network. At the same time, it also executes massive scanning on Internet IP addresses to find and infect other vulnerable computers. This activity results in large SMB traffic from the infected host," Microsoft says.

Believe me, the new strain of WannaCry 2.0 malware would not take enough time to take over another hundred of thousand vulnerable systems.

Get Prepared: Upgrade, Patch OS & Disable SMBv1

MalwareTech also warned of the future threat, saying "It's very important [for] everyone [to] understand that all they [the attackers] need to do is change some code and start again. Patch your systems now!"

"Informed NCSC, FBI, etc. I've done as much as I can do currently, it's up to everyone to patch," he added.

As we notified today, Microsoft took an unusual step to protect its customers with an unsupported version of Windows — including Windows XP, Vista, Windows 8, Server 2003 and 2008 — by releasing security patches that fix SMB flaw currently being exploited by the WannaCry ransomware.

Even after this, I believe, many individuals remain unaware of the new patches and many organizations, as well as embedded machines like ATM and digital billboard displays, running on older or unpatched versions of Windows, who are considering to upgrade their operating system, would take time as well as it’s going to cost them money for getting new licenses.

So, users and organizations are strongly advised to install available Windows patches as soon as possible, and also consider disabling SMBv1 (follow these steps), to prevent similar future cyber attacks.

For god sake: Apply Patches. Microsoft has been very generous to you.

Almost all antivirus vendors have already been added signatures to protect against this latest threat. Make sure you are using a good antivirus, and keep it always up-to-date.

Moreover, you can also follow some basic security practices I have listed to protect yourself from such malware threats.

WannaCry has Hit Over 200,000 Systems in 150 Countries, Warned Europol

Update: Speaking to Britain's ITV, Europol chief Rob Wainwright said the whole world is facing an "escalating threat," warning people that the numbers are going up and that they should ensure the security of their systems is up to date.

"We are running around 200 global operations against cyber crime each year, but we've never seen anything like this," Wainwright said, as quoted by BBC.

"The latest count is over 200,000 victims in at least 150 countries. Many of those victims will be businesses, including large corporations. The global reach is unprecedented."

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Good Netiquette And A Green Internet To All! =====================================================================

Tabula Rosa Systems - Tabula Rosa Systems (TRS) is dedicated to providing Best of Breed Technology and Best of Class Professional Services to our Clients. We have a portfolio of products which we have selected for their capabilities, viability and value. TRS provides product, design, implementation and support services on all products that we represent. Additionally, TRS provides expertise in Network Analysis, eBusiness Application Profiling, ePolicy and eBusiness Troubleshooting.

We can be contacted at:

sales@tabularosa.net or 609 818 1802.

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Saturday, September 2, 2017

Good Netiquette (What Does It Do for You?) Netiquette IQ Blog For 9/2/17

Good Netiquette (What Does It Do for You?)

Friday, September 1, 2017

Netiquette Email Basics - Form Tabula Rosa Systems 9/1/17 - From Netiquette IQ

Thursday, August 31, 2017

Netiquette IQ technical Term Of The Day - DSC Pull Server

Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Netiquette IQ Blog of 8/30/17 - WannaCry Kill-Switch(ed)? It’s Not Over! WannaCry 2.0 Ransomware Arrives

We can be contacted at: