Tech Bytes – Page 19 – Ulistic Projects Blog

May 17, 2019May 16, 2019

Enable Do Not Disturb on Your Android Device

Do Not Disturb on Android can do more than you might expect. Here’s how to enable and customize Do Not Disturb on your Android device.

Today’s quick tech blog explains how to enable Do Not Disturb on Android devices. We’ll also give a basic explanation of how to customize this feature, making it even more powerful. Note that terminology and locations vary on Android devices. If you don’t see exactly what I describe, look for something similar.

What Is Do Not Disturb on Android?

Do Not Disturb on Android does what you’d expect based on its name: when enabled in its default mode, it silences all notifications. It’s a good choice while you’re sleeping (or want to be), while you’re presenting at work or displaying content from your device, or while driving.

Default mode has its usefulness, of course, but sometimes it’s a little too…nuclear. You might want to cut down on the notification madness, but you still want to be alerted if your significant other (or boss, or VIP client) calls. This includes calls, texts, news alerts, and any other app notifications. Good news: Do Not Disturb can be customized, making it a powerful feature for tailoring which people and which apps are allowed to reach you. We’ll get to that, but first, here’s how to enable Do Not Disturb.

Enabling Do Not Disturb on Android

To enable Do Not Disturb, open your settings. Navigate to the Notifications menu. In most Android versions, you’ll see an option for “Do not disturb.” You can toggle this on right from this menu, or you can click on the widget for further options. “Turn on as scheduled” (or some variation of that) is a useful way to automatically toggle off notifications from, say, 11pm until 7am.

A few things to note about the default mode: first, toggling on Do Not Disturb essentially disables Android’s notifications system. You won’t receive any from anywhere. If it’s critical that someone be able to contact you anytime, day or night, you need to customize your Do Not Disturb (see below).

Second, you can always manually disable your scheduled Do Not Disturb. This is useful if you’re out late and still want to be notified about incoming calls or texts. Just come back to the main Notifications page and toggle it off. It will remain off until the next scheduled window.

Customizing Do Not Disturb on Android

Most people can’t get away with default Do Not Disturb. If you want to allow certain people or apps access to you even during Do Not Disturb sessions, go back to the notifications menu in settings and click the widget for Do Not Disturb. Click “Allow exceptions” and start customizing. There are tons of options here. You can enable notification from specific contacts or from repeat callers. You can choose to allow event/task alerts (think work calendar notifications), too.

From there, options vary depending on your phone’s manufacturer and the version of Android that you’re using. Use the principles described with whatever options your phone gives you.

May 15, 2019

What Is PII, Non-PII, and Personal Data?

Data security becomes more important with each passing year. It’s important to have a good understanding of the terms that both governments and the information security industry use. Understanding these terms will help you lead your organization to comply with today’s regulations as well as whatever new regulations are coming down the pike. Today we’ll define three major terms: personally identifiable information, non-personally identifiable information, and personal data.

Personally Identifiable Information (PII)

Personally identifiable information, or PII, is information that organizations may hold on individuals that can be tied to the individuals’ identities. The National Institute of Standards and Technology provides a legal definition for the USA:

PII is any information about an individual maintained by an agency, including (1) any information that can be used to distinguish or trace an individual‘s identity, such as name, social security number, date and place of birth, mother‘s maiden name, or biometric records; and (2) any other information that is linked or linkable to an individual, such as medical, educational, financial, and employment information.

PII comes in two varieties. Linked information is the more sensitive variety. Anything that can by itself be used as an identifier is considered linked information. Social security numbers, driver’s license numbers, full names, and physical addresses are all examples of linked information.

Linkable information is the second category. Linkable information can’t do much on its own, but it becomes powerful when linked with other pieces of information. ZIP code, race, age range, and job information are all examples of linkable information.

Non-Personally Identifiable Information (Non-PII)

Non-personally identifiable information, or non-PII, is information that doesn’t fall into the above categories. All sorts of information falls into this category. In the digital world, IP addresses, cookies, and device IDs are considered non-PII, since (unlike what you see on TV) these pieces of information can’t be used to identify an individual.

Personal Data

Personal data sounds like a casual way to describe the above, but it’s more than that. Personal data is a term used in Europe that is roughly equivalent to PII. Euro-centric publications won’t tend to use the term PII unless discussing something explicitly American. Many of the same principles of PII apply to personal data, but there are some further ramifications that are important to know.

As the USA does with PII, the EU has a specific definition for personal data, defined in GDPR as this:

Article 4(1): ‘personal data’ means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (‘data subject’); an identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person.

A Crucial Difference Between PII and Personal Data

One of the most crucial differences between the NIST’s definition of PII and GPDR’s definition of personal data is this: GPDR concludes that even cookies, IP addresses, and “other identifiers such as radio frequency identification tags” can be personal data, especially when combined with other unique identifiers.

In short, the EU’s GPDR guidelines are more restrictive than their USA equivalents. This is the explanation for the rash of “cookie notices” that’s spread around the web, and it could have implications for your business.

Wrap Up

If you need more information about PII, non-PII, and personal data, don’t hesitate to reach out. We’re here to serve you and meet your IT needs.

May 8, 2019

Is Your Business Ready for Voice Search?

It’s already obvious to most businesses that search engine optimization (SEO) is critical to business success. That’s because, being listed high in search engine results means a higher likelihood that consumers will go to your website and choose your company to do business with.

But what about voice search optimization? Is your business ready?

If you’re not familiar with the term, let’s start there before exploring how your business can prepare for this new wave of online searching.

What is a voice search?

Voice search simply refers to online searches (via sites like Google or Bing) that are carried out with a user’s voice. Think of someone driving in their car, looking for a place to have dinner. They may ask Siri, “What’s the closest Chinese food restaurant to where I am?” This is a voice search.

Why is voice search optimization important?

Alas, if you feel like you’ve only just begun to grasp the importance of SEO for text searches, strap in. The next new frontier is voice search optimization. It’s important because more and more people are doing it.

According to Andrew Ng, co-founder of Coursera, half of all online searches will be voice searches by 2020. While this has yet to be confirmed, there are certainly signs that the prediction is accurate.

For one thing, an increasing number of people are investing in smart speakers like Google Home, Apple HomePod, and Amazon Echo. Additionally, use of virtual assistants like Google Assistant, Alexa (Amazon), Siri (Apple), and Cortana (Microsoft) are being utilized more.

While voice search use rates aren’t sky-high quite yet (a recent study found that 21% of respondents used voice search on a weekly basis), experts estimate that they soon will be.

What does this mean for your business?

At this time, it’s not necessary to put all of your efforts and marketing funds into voice search optimization. Furthermore, many of the things you’ve ideally already done to optimize your business for text searches will also help when it comes to voice searches.

Still, there are several key things that are unique to voice searches and voice search optimization:

Only “position zero” gets the spotlight. With a regular Google text search, search result position 1 (“position zero”) is best, but positions 2, 3, and 4 are still pretty good. When it comes to voice searches, however, Sir or Alexa will only read the first search result, which means you won’t even be seen if you’re in position 2 or beyond.
People use longer key phrases and questions with voice search. While a user might type “best dentist Denver” into Google Search, they might vocally ask Google Assistant: “Who is the best dentist in Denver?” This means you must optimize your content for both text and voice search key phrases.
There are several core inquiries that voice searchers will continually ask. Think about who usually voice searches and when. Often, it’s in situations where typing isn’t possible (e.g., while driving) or when the user wants one simple answer (e.g., “What time does the post office open?”) In these cases, businesses must first ensure the accuracy of their location information (address, phone number, hours, etc.). Second, they must optimize their content for quick and succinct answers to their most commonly asked questions.

As you can see, it’s wise to at least take some preliminary steps right now in order to ensure a seamless transition into the soon-to-be world of prevalent voice searching. This starts with assessing your company’s current voice search status and speaking with SEO professionals who can help optimize your content for voice search.

May 8, 2019

What Is Open Source Software?

For today’s tech blog we’re going to discuss open source software. What is it, and how is it different from other types of software? In simple terms, open source software is a term for any program whose source code has been publicly released, allowing for others to modify it however they like.

Software Types

It’s easiest to understand open source software in the context of other types of software, so here’s a refresher in the other major types.

Licensed Software

Licensed software is any computer application that requires licensing to be used. This licensing can be as simple as purchasing a digital download code for a single computer, or it can be a complex, enterprise-wide licensing agreement. Nearly all licensed software must be purchased to be used legally. Microsoft Office has long been an example of licensed software.

Cloud or Subscription-Based Software

Technically a subset of licensed software, cloud or subscription-based software requires a recurring subscription-style payment. If your payment lapses, the software may become inoperable. Examples here include Adobe Creative Cloud and Microsoft’s newer offering, Office 365.

Freeware

Freeware is a broad term for software that’s distributed freely, with no expectation of payment for personal use. Install these at home as much as you like. Beware that some freeware is only free for personal use, though. If you want to use it in a corporate setting, you may need a license.

Open Source Software

Open source software takes the concept of freeware to the next level. To be considered open source, both the software and its source code must be freely available. Users are permitted (and even encouraged) to modify the source code to improve the software or to customize it for their own needs.

Open Source Certification

Open source as discussed above is a concept or philosophy. Developers who wish to release open source software with a sort of seal of approval can do so through the Open Source Initiative. This group offers a certification mark, Open Source (yes, it’s just the term we’ve been discussing, but with capital letters), which verifies that a piece of software meets certain qualifications.

To receive the Open Source designation, a piece of software must meet these two criteria.

The software is available to anyone else, restriction free.
The software’s source code is available for others to change and customize.

Additionally, provision is made so that the original creators can demand that future, customized versions of the software are clearly distinguished from the original, through naming or versioning.

Conclusion

By reading this tech blog post, you now understand what open source software is. If you’re wondering what it can do for your or your business, contact us today. We’re glad to help!

May 7, 2019

5 Must-Know Microsoft Outlook Hacks

Take a minute to pull out your phone. How many email notifications are staring at you? 100? 3,000? More? Drowning in email is no way to live—or to conduct business. An out-of-control personal email account can cause plenty of problems, like missed bill payments. Even worse, an out-of-control business email account can be disastrous.

No matter who you are or what your business does, email is a big part of your work. Unless you’re one of those productivity gurus who’s already achieved inbox zero, managing your inbox can be a frustrating, overwhelming task. If you’re using Microsoft Outlook to manage your work email, you might not be using this powerful program to its fullest potential. Here are 5 must-know Microsoft Office hacks that will help you gain control over your email.

1. Use Rules to Automatically Organize and File Emails

Microsoft Outlook has a powerful tool called Rules that can prevent many emails from ever landing directly in your inbox. If your business is like most, you receive many messages that fall into categories. Dealing with similar emails all at once can save time. Use rules to automatically route emails to specific destinations. Here’s how:

First, create a new folder (say, Admin Updates for all those company-specific emails you don’t need to read right away) by right-clicking on your inbox folder. Next, right-click on a message that you want to apply a rule to and select “Rules.” Outlook will try to figure out what kind of rule you want. If it doesn’t get it right, you can click “Create Rule…” or “Edit Rules…” and customize to your liking.

Try this for all sorts of email categories. Create folders for clients you interact with often, for “cold call” sales emails, and for newsletters you’re subscribed to. Reserve your main inbox for the unexpected.

2. Keep Customizing Rules, But Don’t Overdo It

Once you have a few basic rules in place, you’ll start to see the value. Keep customizing and adding rules to enhance your efficiency. The options included in the Rules menu are pretty deep. That said, don’t overdo it. It’s possible to set up so many folders you start to lose track of what goes where. We recommend starting out with 2 or 3 folders. Depending on your comfort level and the complexity of your role, you may eventually want to scale up to 5 to 10 folders, each with rules associated with it.

3. Use OneNote and Teams to Reduce Email Volume

As great a tool as email is, it’s not very good for real collaboration. That doesn’t stop groups of employees from trying to collaborate over email. Take a simple task—say, filling in an Excel chart. Over email, you’ll end up with multiple versions of the file being attached to emails, all in various states of completeness. Your team will eventually get the job done, but it’s laborious, distracting, and inefficient.

Microsoft has two main collaboration apps: OneNote and Teams. Both can help reduce email clutter.

OneNote

OneNote started out as a high-powered note-taking software, and it’s evolved into a powerful collaboration tool. Share a tab or a notebook with a working group, and your team can collaborate on a document or a chart within OneNote. Another use is creating a notebook that’s a shared note-taking space. Creative or knowledge-based teams can benefit from this kind of central repository of knowledge.

Outlook integrates directly with OneNote with both “Move to OneNote” and “Open in OneNote” buttons. Use these to turn those pesky email threads into OneNote pages.

Teams

One of Microsoft’s newest additions to Office, Teams is Microsoft’s competitor to Slack. Each time you create a Team, you give a specific group of people (say, a project team) access to a dedicated space to collaboratively chat. You can post updates for your department, and they can ask department-wide questions in real time. Teams users can also use one-to-one and group chat within the application.

All that is just scratching the surface, though. When properly integrated with SharePoint, Teams gains the ability to open just about any Office program—Word, Excel, you name it—within the app, in a collaborative format. Five users can edit a Word doc simultaneously, right within teams. It’s an incredibly powerful tool for hacking your inbox.

4. Use Send Options Like Delayed Send

When composing an email, click “File” and then “Properties” in the menu of the email itself. You have a host of options available here, like setting importance and sensitivity levels or enabling voting and tracking. The best one, though, is delayed send. Check the box for “Do not deliver before” and set the time that makes sense, and you’ll appear to be an email wizard. Use this whenever you want a planned email to send when you’re not at your desk, such as scheduling an email to arrive just after a meeting ends.

5. Hack Scheduling: Use Calendar and Reply with Meeting Request

If you’ve ever attempted to schedule a meeting with multiple people over email, it’s a mess. It turns into a reply-all fest, eating up time and attention. Instead, use Outlook’s powerful Calendar feature. Click on the Calendar tab, then create a new Meeting. Use the Scheduling Assistant to view all participants’ availability. Click “Add Rooms” to see which rooms are free.

That’s already far better than the reply-all mess, but it gets better. The latest versions of Outlook will attempt to read all this and show you the best options automatically, assuming your company’s IT department has the proper settings enabled. Also, you can cut off the reply-all fest by using the “Reply with Meeting Request” button. Doing this will automatically jump into the scheduling assistant tool, saving you even more time.

May 3, 2019

Have You Heard of DuckDuckGo?

The self-proclaimed “search engine that doesn’t track you,” DuckDuckGo is likely the most successful search engine available when it comes to privacy and security.

While Google remains the most popular search engine by far, many users are concerned about its practice of collecting and using your personal data. Namely, Google tracks what you search (yes, everything), stores it, and uses it to provide you with a personalized user experience. Oh, and they also make a profit from it.

What Are the Specific Benefits of Switching to DuckDuckGo?

No Tracking

Of course, this is the biggie. DuckDuckGo doesn’t track you or what you look up online. All searches are 100% anonymous.

No Ads

Google tries to trick users by situating ads at the very top of the page — ads, by the way, that look like search result listings. The only difference is a little box that says “Ad” next to the web address. DuckDuckGo foregoes ads like these, generally starting at the very top of the page with your first search result listing.

Minimalist Interface

Speaking of no ads, DuckDuckGo provides an overall clean and minimalist appearance. Like Google’s results pages, you can toggle between “Web,” “Images,” “Video,” etc. at the top. You can also filter results by region, “Safe Search” mode (for strict or non-filtered adult content), and time period.

Non-personalized Search Results

“Why wouldn’t I want personalized search results?”

Well, you might. But the advantage of not having personalized results is that you’ll see exactly what everyone else sees. In other words, when you search “cocktail recipes” in Duluth, Minnesota, you’ll get the same results as someone searching for “cocktail recipes” in Lyon, France.

Seriously, What’s Actually So Bad About Search Tracking?

Many people’s argument against worrying about Google and other tech giants tracking them (hi, Alexa) is this: “I don’t do anything bad or shameful on the Internet, so why should I care if I’m tracked and my data’s stored?”

That may be true. Certainly, for some, the sheer fact that you’re being listened to, your movements are being tracked, and essentially everything about you (from your age and income to your shoe size and favorite local bar) is being stored … well, it’s alarming and disturbing.

But if that still doesn’t make you ponder the importance of personal data tracking and storing, consider this: Google is using your data to get rich, like, really rich. They’re monetizing everything you do through their platform and making billions in annual profits as a result. The stuff their using? Your shopping habits (Google Express), your online searches (Google Search), your personal conversations (Google Assistant and Google Hangouts), where you go (Google Maps), the news you read and your political leanings (Google News), and much more.

To make matters worse, in many ways, they’re being less than honest about their tactics. For example, their so-called “incognito” mode is far from fully private. Your employer and ISP can still track your searches when you’re in incognito. Furthermore, Google documents you’ve “deleted” and searches you’ve “cleared” aren’t really gone. Google stores them … indefinitely.

Consider a Switch to DuckDuckGo

There’s no doubt that companies like Google provide useful services to individuals and businesses of all kinds. Their search engine is definitely useful as well. Extensive, highly complex algorithms can help you find exactly what you’re looking for, often faster than other search engines.

But if you’re at all concerned with privacy and security for your business and/or at home, consider a search engine switch to the up-and-coming DuckDuckGo. Set it as your homepage, try it out, and see what you think.

May 1, 2019April 28, 2019

Four Amazing Tips on Using iPhones and iPads in Your Business

Coordinating interactions between office staff and remote workers can be challenging. One way you can cut through a lot of the confusion that arises when trying to keep everything in sync is by leveraging your worker’s iPad and iPhone devices. It is a way of using something that is already in their arsenal at a minimal cost to your business.

There will not be a focus on any specific device versions, mainly because it may already be yesterday’s news by the time this article reaches your eyes. You can execute these suggestions successfully even if you have some employees who still cling to their iPhone 7 or iPad Air 2. One thing Apple has always offered powerful devices capable of being used in a variety of ways for business. If they are well-maintained and functional, you can implement the ideas that best suit your work culture.

1. Synchronize Accounting

Having a reliable means of tracking financial transactions related to business functions is a crucial component of any enterprise. The App Store provides access to a variety of accounting apps that can be synced to your company software to send invoices and track payments from suppliers and vendors. All workers can see the changes in real-time and keep all ledgers in sync.

The apps also have features allowing management of multiple business accounts and any related transactions between them all. Some provide reports with visuals giving you a quick overview of your current liabilities, and where the company may be making heavier-than-needed expenditures. Workers are not bound to their laptops when it comes time to issue an invoice or product documents needed for tax purposes.

2. Maintain Documents and Scheduling

Your employees can create memos or document the details of a significant business transaction using a variety of document creation tools. Their iPad or iPhone can be synced with popular Microsoft Office applications like Excel or any of your favorite G-Suite tools.

Workers would only need to log into a OneDrive business account to open a Word document created earlier on a MacBook or add the settings of the company’s business Google account to their device.

Their iPad or iPhone can also be coordinated with a calendar to send notifications about upcoming events. Imagine having all your staff show up on time to a meeting or continuously meeting project deadlines despite being in different locations.

3. Create On-The-Go Presentations

An iPad can be used to create a visual presentation showcase anywhere outside of the office. Apps like Keynote let workers share ideas with you and other executives in a creative and organized fashion. Their iPhone can also be transformed into a hand-held digital brochure to show off at conventions and other business events.

Instead of lugging around a ton of paper brochures that can easily be lost, staff can show off a digital version to a business contact that can be forwarded as they collect their information for follow-up. Other iOS apps like CamCard can be used to keep up with all the names and emails of potential future clients at trade shows and expos.

4. Stay Connected and Engaged

Are you concerned that your remote workers might be feeling a little disconnected from the office staff? There are iOS apps available for platforms like Trello and Slack that make communication and project coordination a smoother process.

The apps provide you with the same functionality that peers in the office have on their laptop or desktop. That means you can easily synchronize workflows and maintain communication about upcoming deadlines for tasks related to various projects. Their iPad or iPhone devices become conduits for hosting online video chats with co-workers.

Recommended Support Tools

You may decide that investing in iPhone or iPad devices for your workers would be a sound investment. We suggest investing in the following tools to effectively leverage them for your company.

Stylus — Look for devices like the Apple Pencil that enhances note-taking ability during online meetings. Workers can add comments to PDFs, create charts and graphs, and more.
Keyboard — Investing in a sound keyboard gives employees more comfort when they need to do a lot of typing.
Case — Many cases can protect devices from accidental damage and let workers adjust them to a more comfortable angle for heavy keying.

Do your research into apps and other support devices that will enhance iPhone and iPad business usage. We think you’ll be happy at your decision to turn them into one of your company’s most potent occupational tools.

April 23, 2019April 23, 2019

Inside The New Microsoft Edge Browser

Microsoft’s first version of the Edge browser fell far behind other options, gaining only a 4.4 percent market share compared to Chrome’s 65.5 percent, Internet Explorer’s 9.83 percent, and Firefox’s 9.62 percent. The company went back to the drawing board and created a new Edge that is based on the Chromium engine. Here are a few of the highlights that this new browser has to offer.

Better Compatibility

The original Microsoft Edge, based on EdgeHTML technology, ran into occasional problems with rendering HTML 5 elements. The new version has comparable compatibility to Google Chrome. Even in this early stage, most websites were rendered without any significant problems.

Changing Menus

The dockable pane is getting booted in favor of cascading menus. The options aren’t changing a lot, but the navigation feels more intuitive with this update.

Improved Data Privacy

One sticking point that some people have with Google Chrome is that the company collects a wide range of information about online activities from its users. You can use the latest version of Microsoft Edge to reduce the data that Google collects. Only the time you spend using Google properties such as Gmail get tracked, but your activity outside of that would not go to the search engine giant.

Supports Chrome Extensions

Microsoft Edge Insider Add-on selection has always paled compared to Chrome’s, but that’s not going to be a problem anymore. The new browser makes it straightforward to add Chrome apps, which is a huge upgrade to the user experience. Instead of only having 120 extensions to choose from, you have access to more than one hundred thousand. The Add to Chrome button will also work with Edge.

Synced Tabs

This feature isn’t in the new Edge yet, but you’ll eventually have all of your open tabs synced between your devices that have Edge open. It promotes seamlessly going back and forth between desktops, laptops and mobile devices.

Getting Microsoft Edge

This browser is currently under development so hasn’t reached the shippable stage yet. Microsoft will add more of the user-friendly features as the browser progresses. The early release performs well and comes in a daily and weekly updated version. It has a surprising amount of polish for software that’s relatively early in its development process. You can access the browser through the Microsoft Edge Insider program.

More Default Search Engine Option

Microsoft promoted Bing as the default, and only, search engine for Edge. The Chromium version is adding Google, DuckDuckGo and Yahoo to the roster. This is a welcome change, as having to go directly to the other search engines to use them made the user experience feel clunky.

Microsoft is taking a lot of steps in the right direction with the Edge Chromium version. It addresses many common complaints about Edge, and the disconnection from Google services limits the amount of data being collected. Following its development and seeing whether it can improve its foothold in the browser market will be exciting to watch.

April 16, 2019

How To Encrypt an Email In Microsoft Outlook

There is any number of reasons to encrypt an email in Microsoft Office Outlook, anything from details about your salary to negotiations to purchase a business. With the state of cybersecurity, you need to know that you are protected from individuals who may attempt to hijack your email as it is in transit between locations, too. Fortunately, Outlook has the functionality built in that will allow you to quickly and easily encrypt your email as well as stop people from forwarding the email message.

Why Is Email Encryption Important?

The rise of malware and ransomware has made many users wary of opening emails, and definitely can make you question opening any attachments — even those from a known user. One of the key reasons for utilizing email encryption is to prevent an attacker from intercepting emails and reading them, or even adding a questionable attachment that could be infected with malware. While there are some web-based encryption platforms, the most effective are often those that are built directly into the email platform being used by staff members on a daily basis.

Email Encryption in the Enterprise

Email encryption options have been around for years and can provide your email and attachments an added level of security that could be necessary for sensitive conversations. In the past, it’s been a bit more challenging to apply encryption and even required an add-in or separate application in order to ensure that your corporate emails are safe in transit. As far back as Office 2007, there’s been the ability to add one-click encryption that applied to a single message. You also have the option to encrypt all outgoing messages, a crucial addition for financial and legal organizations. Network eavesdroppers will be thwarted by this advanced function of Microsoft Outlook. If you are using the Office 365 suite, you can find instructions for encrypting your emails on Microsoft’s help site.

How Does Email Encryption Work?

It’s important to understand that email encryption is a two-way street. Not only is it required that you have the software options available to encrypt messages that you are sending, but your recipient must also be able to remove the encryption with a key in order to view the message or attachment. In Outlook, there is a certificate generated that allows you to store the email in your Sent items as well as provides recipients with a way to respond to the email — as you’ll have to open the encrypted file when it is returned to you. This can become problematic when you have multiple people on a distribution list for your email. When recipients are within your organization, Exchange server stores a copy of the encryption key for each individual on the server for ease of use.

Microsoft Outlook is one of the most widely-used email platforms in the country, especially for business professionals. The simple instructions for email encryption and the quick application of the rule for all emails means it is easier than ever to protect your confidential messages.

April 16, 2019

Tech Education: What Is A Firewall?

Firewalls were developed over thirty years ago and function as the first line of defense for many business networks. This piece of network equipment is a perimeter defense that determines whether packets can move into or out of the network. While the basic concept of a firewall is simple, the way that it performs this function and the features it offers continue to evolve based on current threats.

Types of Firewalls

Firewalls come in two major categories: hardware and software. The physical firewalls are network appliances that connect to the rest of the IT infrastructure so it’s able to monitor packets. There are several methods they can use to secure the network and assist with thwarting potential intruders.

Hardware Firewalls

Stateful

Stateful firewalls retain information about the connections being made. It offers good performance because this technology allows it to skip inspecting every single packet. Once it has inspected a connection, it allows it for subsequent packets.

Application-level

Application-level firewalls that are hardware based are designed to protect the application’s connections. They address common attack methods used on that type of application, such as stopping cross-site scripting for a web application.

Proxy

When someone thinks about a standard firewall, a proxy firewall is most likely what’s on their mind. It stands between a host device and the data source and inspects the packets that are sent between them. This type of firewall may not stand up to complex attacks due to its simplicity, but it masks a lot of the network information.

Circuit-level

This firewall is another basic one that focuses on checking the TCP handshake. It’s not resource intensive since it doesn’t look at the packet, but that does mean that it won’t protect against sophisticated attacks.

Next Generation

These firewalls have advanced features that give businesses more ways to stop malicious traffic from making it through the appliance. Some examples of these include deep packet inspection, checking attachments in sandboxes, and terminating encrypted traffic. Third-party data can be incorporated into the rules and filters of the firewall to improve protection against emerging threats. They can also incorporate technology that is found in other types of IT security hardware, such as intrusion detection. The drawback of this firewall type is that it can significantly slow down network traffic.

Software-based Firewalls

Virtual Appliance

This firewall is a software package that’s installed on the business network and does not rely on a hardware appliance for protecting traffic.

Application-level

Some applications have firewalls built into the software itself to act as a second layer of protection. Anything that gets through the physical firewall of the business network and reaches the application layer needs to go through another inspection. These firewalls focus on threats that are most common for that piece of software.

Cloud-based

A cloud-based firewall leverages cloud computing technology for the virtual appliance. Some advantages of a cloud firewall include the ability to scale quickly, high availability, and cost-efficiency. For organizations with limited IT budgets, using a cloud-based service can give them access to powerful features that they wouldn’t have access to without paying a substantial upfront hardware fee.

The right firewall for your organization depends on the typical threats that you face, the sensitivity of the information you’re protecting, and your performance requirements.