by Christopher Phelps

Alexander Graham Bell Would Have Never Thought of This

Who would have thought that one day we wouldn’t even need telephones to make telephone calls? The latest innovation in phone service technology, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), requires only a computer and a high-speed Internet line—and it’s cheaper than landline phone calls.

VoIP, (pronounced “voyp”) enables computer users to make voice phone calls and listen to voicemails over the Internet. This recently perfected service not only includes standard phone features such as call transfer, call forwarding, hold and conference calls, but it also can send your voicemails to your e-mail to be heard on your computer.

Using the Internet to place a VoIP call is ultimately cheaper than using a landline phone. This new phone service is modernizing traditional landline service and providing a new style of luxury to communication. For example, if your business is run from multiple geographical locations, VoIP’s phone solution allows you to transfer calls as seamlessly as if you were in the same physical location. If you need to go on vacation but don’t want to be without your landline phone, simply unplug it from the wall, take it with you and plug it into the broadband Internet at your vacation spot. It will appear to everyone that you are still in the office with a fully functional phone

VoIP even has an option for “on the run” salespeople or other professionals to use their laptops as a phone. A software-based phone is installed on the laptop and as long as you have a broadband wireless card to access the Internet, all you need to have is a microphone in which to speak.

How Does VoIP Work?

When using VoIP, your voice is converted to a digital signal that travels securely through the web until it reaches its destination and then is converted back to a voice signal. You need broadband or a high-speed Internet connection to use this phone service. But there are limits to how many phones you can hook up depending on your networking environment. Installing VoIP in a business environment can be difficult if you do not have the proper infrastructure. But, because VoIP phones use the same Ethernet cabling currently in place for PCs, it is very convenient.

However, if you have too many computers in your office, the data from the PCs and VoIP phones could collide and create poor phone service. A computer consultant can assist with separating the traffic to ensure that proper voice quality is maintained. A good business-grade Internet router/firewall is also important to maintain superior VoIP quality. Wireless handsets and adapters are available. For your more robust business phone systems that require automated attendants and various extension options, many VoIP carriers have some impressive software to allow you to manage these situations.

VoIP Benefits

Voice over Internet Protocol has various advantages for users and is much more inexpensive than regular phone service providers—as long as you pay for an Internet connection. For those who love to multitask on the computer and hate having to run to pick up the phone, VoIP phone service would provide the convenience of being able to answer the phone while sitting at the computer. Business employees and people who travel regularly can bring a VoIP phone on the road and enjoy using their telephone wherever there is an Internet connection. You can call anyone, anytime, anywhere in the world. Even when your computer isn’t on, you can use the phone service, and you’ll end up saving money on your power bill.

Christopher Phelps is the owner of CWP Tech Solutions, Inc., a full-service computer repair firm also specializing in phone systems, IT maintenance contracts and local search engine optimization. He can be reached at info@cwptechsolutions.com.

…And How to Fight Back

by Robert Whetsel

by Robert Whetsel

In the last of this three-part series, Robert Whetsel demonstrates how having an Emergency System Compromised Checklist can save your company if your business’s network is ever compromised.

You can find the previous articles in this series here:
1. DarkBOT: Tales from the Dark Side of the Internet (from the April/May 2010 issue)
2. Invasion of the BotNets (from the June/July 2010 issue)

You’ve been Compromised – MIB Case File #03242010

MIB (Mike, Indy, Bob) got a call from a potential client with some major security issues going on. Immediately, we pulled everyone into the ready room to review the facts of the case. Preliminary diagnosis: yup, their network was compromised. Knowing that it could be just the tip of the iceberg, we needed to move fast; we needed to assess the damage in person. Our goals: Contain and mitigate additional damage to the client’s systems. So Indy and I (Bob) grabbed our gear and made our way to the client’s office as fast as we could, while Mike started sniffing their network traffic from the office.

Nope, Mike is not of the canine persuasion. Network Sniffing analyzes “packages” as they cross over a company’s network. Put simply: Company A’s network traffic has 50% email, 25% web serving, and 25% data going back and forth to a database application. If this base mix changes without reason, we’ve got abnormal traffic. Patterns in network traffic are much more complicated, but you get the idea.

Arriving on-site, the first thing we did was get all the legal stuff out of the way and let the client know how we worked. Luckily, we were wrapping up when Mike called me and warned that the client’s network traffic was sending out abnormal packages. We shifted gears because it was time for a code red emergency. I snapped: “We need to Initiate your Emergency System Compromised Checklist”. The CEO: ”What’s that?”

Wrong answer.

OK, time for lessons later. We needed to act fast to prevent any additional threats, mitigate damage, and preserve evidence. Most importantly, we needed to get the client back up and operational as soon as possible. The first thing we did was disconnect the network from the Internet to prevent any additional information from leaking.
Working overnight with their IT staff, we were able to pull all the system hard drives and, following good forensics practices, started a chain of custody; preserving evidence. Bad news for them, they needed to replace around 100 hard drives to get back to 100% operational.
Even worse, they put their employees’ and their company’s information at risk and lawyers have started baying for blood. Sad story, but use it as a lesson for you.

Brief aside for a Lesson Learned:

An Emergency System Compromised Checklist is a list of actions to be performed to recover from a comprised system. These checklists would be triggered by a simple exposure to a computer virus all the way to a major system compromise. In worst case scenarios, it may help you prepare for criminal charges and civil suits against the perpetrators.

For this scenario, this company’s Emergency System Compromised Checklist should have been:

1. Shut down all systems
2. Call an emergency meeting with key personnel and let them know that your systems have been compromised
3. Alert the IT department to be on standby, ready to implement your disaster recovery plan
4. Centralize communication – all communication needs to go through forensic experts like MIB
5. Call your lawyer and inform them of the situation
6. Have security remove all personnel from work areas
7. Notify local law enforcement and the FBI
8. Initiate your Business Continuity Plan (BCP)

Each company should have their own checklist, and it varies according to what they do. For example, a biotechnology company’s check-list would vary greatly from an auto shop or realtor’s office. Depending on what information your computer systems hold, you could be financially and criminally liable for a system compromise. For example, a doctor’s office should worry about HIPAA compliance and financial institutions like mortgage companies and financial advisors should worry about the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.

The Dark Side of the Internet

by Robert Whetsel

In this series of articles, you will be exposed to the dark side of the Internet. Through interviews, independent research and real-world examples, you will experience the dangers of the World Wide Web.Travel with me down the “rabbit hole” as we explore the dark side of the Internet. Let me set the stage. Before sharing stories about who is trying to steal your information and how they do it, I need to introduce you to our company of virtual world villians.

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Protect your business against virtual threats infiltrating your inbox

by Robert Whetsel

Using electronic mail has become so much a part of our everyday lives; it’s hard to imagine functioning without it.

I use seven different e-mail addresses to compartmentalize my real and electronic lives. As a power e-mail user, I spend hours trying to keep ahead of the tsunami of data that collides with my inbox, all the while avoiding the constant accumulation of junk mail. That’s a lot of information to manage, and the challenge is even greater when one considers the various dangers posed by the sending and receiving of email. Malignant threats, such as SPAM, viruses, worms, botnets and phishing and whaling attacks designed to steal your identity will get you if you don’t watch out. But there’s good news. We do have ways to fight back, and with these few simple suggestions you could save yourself time and money due to lost personal information that leads directly to identity theft, and even answer the question, “Why would you need $1,500 worth of phone cards in Brazil?”

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Written by Vaughn Thurman, Founder & President Swift Systems – Frederick Maryland

A longtime Windows partner says Microsoft’s latest offering is like Windows on a whole new world.

Let’s face it, we have all heard it:  Windows Vista runs so slow that it takes two hours to watch “60 Minutes.” And Windows XP? That’s like driving to the baseball game – already 20 minutes late – with your “safe driving” grandmother. Man I sure feel safe, but is this ride ever going to be over?

So the question at hand is: Is Windows 7 ready to bring us all into the modern iPhone age of cool meets smooth, or is this just more hype?

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