No less than 37% of business users unknowingly acquired pirated copies of Microsoft software, including Windows and Office, according to statistics made available by the Redmond company. The software giant reviewed no less than 30 companies and suggested that business users with counterfeit software in their IT infrastructure were actually victims of bootleggers. In this context, the software giant has warned that even professionals can be tricked into taking counterfeit products as genuine, especially high-quality pirated software.
“It’s obvious that the strategy of software pirates is to create high-quality counterfeit software that is designed to deceive. The study reveals just how prevalent the problem is within the business environment. The best way to protect companies is by educating people about software piracy and providing tools to help identify and prevent the risks of counterfeit software before they purchase and install it in their workplace,” revealed Cori Hartje, senior director of Microsoft’s Genuine Software Initiative.
Microsoft indicated that midsize businesses managed to spend no less than $112,439 on pirated software. Companies that had already purchased genuine software spent on average $10,222 for pirated or otherwise unlicensed products. The most consistent danger comes from increasingly sophisticated pirated materials that can easily be taken as genuine products. Microsoft has advised such customers to turn to solutions such as Windows Genuine Advantage and Windows Office Advantage in order to confirm that the software they acquired is indeed genuine.
“Small and midsize businesses become easy, unsuspecting victims of counterfeiters who take advantage of customers looking for a bargain on their software,” Hartje added. “Like larger enterprises, these businesses also wrestle with the demand to maintain and upgrade their software. But when they make their purchases from the least expensive vendor instead of a trusted advisor, they can easily end up with pirated products, ultimately resulting in greater losses through employee downtime and product replacement.”
Source: Softpedia
As a Microsoft Gold Partner, 2K Networking works to ensure that all of our clients have properly purchased and licensed Microsoft products ranging from the server to the desktop. Our staff also know how to determine the difference between pirated and 100% Genuine Microsoft products. As the information above discusses, businesses that do not have properly licensed software are usually unaware of this fact. Microsoft just last week updated it's Microsoft Genuine Advantage (WGA) anti-piracy software that validates official copies of Windows XP to be able to detect illegal copies installed with newly stolen or faked product keys, or with new activation cracks.
Once Microsoft's WGA software identifies a pirated copy of Windows XP it will notify the user with on screen pop up messages as well as background image messages. WGA will also disable the ability for Windows to update itself. This poses an extreme security risk to the user of that computer as well as the network that computer is connected to. Viruses, trojans and other malware often utilize unpatched vulnerabilities in Windows XP to infect a computer from websites, email attachments or downloaded files.
Should you find your computer or another on your network notifying you that it "Is not Genuine", please contact 2K as soon as possible at 717-724-0537 to have one of our technicians investigate the issue and determine the best course of action to remedy the situation.
You can find more information on the recent WGA update from this ComputerWorld article.
Conficker Virus and April 1st: Here's the Deal
The latest variant of the Conficker Virus is being widely reported to begin causing problems on April 1st and we have been getting some questions on this.
Quite honestly – if your anti-virus is updating normally (every day or every other day) and all windows computers are updated (as the patch for the vulnerability that this is targeting came out in October/November) then you should have nothing to worry about.
Here’s a bit more of an extensive list of FAQs to look at regarding this issue:
http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/archives/00001636.html
If you do feel that your company's computers are at risk, or do not know at all, please contact 2K at 717-724-0537 and we will work with you to ensure the security of your company's computers and network.
Quite honestly – if your anti-virus is updating normally (every day or every other day) and all windows computers are updated (as the patch for the vulnerability that this is targeting came out in October/November) then you should have nothing to worry about.
Here’s a bit more of an extensive list of FAQs to look at regarding this issue:
http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/archives/00001636.html
If you do feel that your company's computers are at risk, or do not know at all, please contact 2K at 717-724-0537 and we will work with you to ensure the security of your company's computers and network.
Internet Explorer 8.0 is now available - should you upgrade?
Microsoft released Internet Explorer 8.0 last week as an upgrade to Internet Explorer 7.0. IE8 is available for Windows XP SP2/SP3, Windows Server 2003 SP2, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. While this new version of IE8 is a big improvement over IE7, 2K Networking does not recommend any of our clients to update to this new version until compatibility testing has been completed against your enterprise software and web applications.
Because IE8 builds on the foundation of changes that were made with IE7, there is a very good chance that any web applications that did not work properly in IE7, will continue to malfunction in IE8. This is one of the biggest reasons we do not recommend upgrading at this time.
Microsoft will begin releasing IE8 to all users via windows automatic update the week of April 13, 2009. 2K Networking has the ability to block the automatic download and installation of IE8. Please make sure you talk with your primary contact regarding blocking IE8 at your organization.
Because IE8 builds on the foundation of changes that were made with IE7, there is a very good chance that any web applications that did not work properly in IE7, will continue to malfunction in IE8. This is one of the biggest reasons we do not recommend upgrading at this time.
Microsoft will begin releasing IE8 to all users via windows automatic update the week of April 13, 2009. 2K Networking has the ability to block the automatic download and installation of IE8. Please make sure you talk with your primary contact regarding blocking IE8 at your organization.
It's a Wild Internet with many thorns - be careful not to get stuck.
Security vendor F-secure last week alerted us to two different identity theft & malware scams going around that is likely to have the potential to be very damaging.
The first of these is a Comcast High Speed spam email that is offering users with a special self installation kit and asking them to sign in with their account information.
See the link here for the full article and screen capture of the bogus email..
http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/archives/00001630.html
This is specifically targeting comcast users and since Comcast covers most of the areas we service, our clients an clients' employees need to be aware of this. Think clearly before clicking a link in your email and providing personal information online.
The second item F-secure mentions is alerting us all to many YouTube "advertisement" videos describing a wide range of iTunes, computer, gaming and entertainment devices that would require you to download a file and "may need to turn off your anti-virus" software to get the file to run properly. This is a very polite way of telling you - "Turn it off and I'll infect your system."
See the many screenshots on the original article below
http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/archives/00001628.html
The first of these is a Comcast High Speed spam email that is offering users with a special self installation kit and asking them to sign in with their account information.
See the link here for the full article and screen capture of the bogus email..
http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/archives/00001630.html
This is specifically targeting comcast users and since Comcast covers most of the areas we service, our clients an clients' employees need to be aware of this. Think clearly before clicking a link in your email and providing personal information online.
The second item F-secure mentions is alerting us all to many YouTube "advertisement" videos describing a wide range of iTunes, computer, gaming and entertainment devices that would require you to download a file and "may need to turn off your anti-virus" software to get the file to run properly. This is a very polite way of telling you - "Turn it off and I'll infect your system."
See the many screenshots on the original article below
http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/archives/00001628.html
Adobe Patches Critical Acrobat Reader Security Flaw - All Users should update now!
This week Adobe released version Acrobat Reader 9.10 to fix some very serious security flaws that affected Acrobat Reader 9. These flaws are also affecting older 8.x and 7.x versions of the Acrobat Reader, but will not be patched for a while longer.
Adobe originally dismissed the flaws that security researchers found as being minor in February when they were discovered, but was forced to acknowledge the serious nature of the flaws when malicious software writers (virus/trojans/malware) began utilizing these flaws to gain access to computers remotely.
2K Networking recommends that anyone utilizing Acrobat Reader 7.x, 8.x or 9.x to update to uninstall all current versions of Acrobat Reader on their system then download and install the Acrobat Reader 9.10 from Adobe here.
For more information on this issue you can read the articles at the following locations:
Computerworld
CNet
BetaNews
Adobe originally dismissed the flaws that security researchers found as being minor in February when they were discovered, but was forced to acknowledge the serious nature of the flaws when malicious software writers (virus/trojans/malware) began utilizing these flaws to gain access to computers remotely.
2K Networking recommends that anyone utilizing Acrobat Reader 7.x, 8.x or 9.x to update to uninstall all current versions of Acrobat Reader on their system then download and install the Acrobat Reader 9.10 from Adobe here.
For more information on this issue you can read the articles at the following locations:
Computerworld
CNet
BetaNews
Apple Font Issue Solved!
The Problem
If you have the Helvetica Fractions font installed, text in some applications may appear as overlapping numbers and symbols. This font substitution problem can effect many Mac OS X applications including Address Book, iChat, Safari, Mail and Microsoft Entourage.
The Fix:
Remove Helvetica Fractions from your font collection. Or if you can't entirely remove it, deactivate it manually when this problem occurs.
In practice, this may take a little hunting to accomplish. Often Helvetica Fractions is included as part of a larger Helvetica font suitcase and can't easily be removed without rebuilding those suitcases. The good news is that few designers actually use Helvetica Fractions in their daily work and this font generally won't be missed.
Tip:
If you are managing your font library with FontAgent Pro or Suitcase Fusion (using the Font Vault feature) you should be able to remove the individual Helvetica Fraction fonts without disrupting other Helvetica's in your font library.
More details: Incorrect Font Substitutions
Details:
What is a font substitution problem? It’s very simple: when a document or a webpage calls for a specific font and due to unavailability or inadequate font calls to the OS another font is chosen instead, an incorrect font substitution results. For the most part this isn’t the worst problem to have with a browser or your e-mail application. If a webpage calls for Arial and somehow Arial Narrow (another normal roman font) is used, you would still be able to read the text. If you have Helvetica-Fraction or Helvetica-FractionBold present in either your font manager or in one of your various OS Fonts folders, then this font could, and often does, get used instead of the normal Helvetica font specified.
If you have the Helvetica Fractions font installed, text in some applications may appear as overlapping numbers and symbols. This font substitution problem can effect many Mac OS X applications including Address Book, iChat, Safari, Mail and Microsoft Entourage.
The Fix:
Remove Helvetica Fractions from your font collection. Or if you can't entirely remove it, deactivate it manually when this problem occurs.
In practice, this may take a little hunting to accomplish. Often Helvetica Fractions is included as part of a larger Helvetica font suitcase and can't easily be removed without rebuilding those suitcases. The good news is that few designers actually use Helvetica Fractions in their daily work and this font generally won't be missed.
Tip:
If you are managing your font library with FontAgent Pro or Suitcase Fusion (using the Font Vault feature) you should be able to remove the individual Helvetica Fraction fonts without disrupting other Helvetica's in your font library.
More details: Incorrect Font Substitutions
Details:
What is a font substitution problem? It’s very simple: when a document or a webpage calls for a specific font and due to unavailability or inadequate font calls to the OS another font is chosen instead, an incorrect font substitution results. For the most part this isn’t the worst problem to have with a browser or your e-mail application. If a webpage calls for Arial and somehow Arial Narrow (another normal roman font) is used, you would still be able to read the text. If you have Helvetica-Fraction or Helvetica-FractionBold present in either your font manager or in one of your various OS Fonts folders, then this font could, and often does, get used instead of the normal Helvetica font specified.
Security Alert - Antivirus 2009 XP changes again
Security Alert!!
(source: bleepingcomputer)There has been an update on the rogue security software that the Vundo Trojan has started promoting. The rogues of choice for Vundo are now Malware Defender 2009, Antivirus XP Pro, and VirusRemover2009. These rogues are advertised by Vundo hijacking your desktop wallpaper, adding security warnings at the top of Internet Explorer, and by displaying fake security alerts from the Windows taskbar. Below are some example graphics of these different malware items. Should you get infected - get in touch with 2K as soon as possible so we can discuss cleanup options.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)