jermsmit

5 Ways to Know if You Are a Data Security Risk | By John Kogan

Here are some way to know if you are putting your client’s data at risk.

1. YOU ARE QUICK TO CLICK ON HYPERLINKS. Avoid clicking on links in emails, especially if they are from an unknown sender or sent without context. A good way to verify links before clicking is to hover your mouse over them. Do they lead where they purport to? Check carefully for tricky typos like “arnazon.com.” If you do…

Cybersecurity: New NJ Privacy Law

You may have started to read about changes that may directly affect your organization. In response to Europe’s new GDPR law.

In response to Europe’s new GDPR law, states have begun to draft and implement additional privacy laws and regulations. My home state of New Jersey is now attempting to lead the charge forward in seeing these new policies are in place.

We all know that security of…

Intrusion Prevention with Fail2Ban

Fail2Ban is an intrusion prevention software framework that protects computer servers from brute-force attacks. Written in the Python programming language, it is able to run on POSIX systems that have an interface to a packet-control system or firewall installed locally, for example, iptables or TCP Wrapper. Wikipedia

To assist in further locking down the exposed SSH endpoint I manage,I…

Techshort: IP Addresses with PowerShell

Quick PowerShell Tip!

To list all of the IP addresses, both v4 and v6 on your local system, along with the associated interface name issue the following command:

Get-NetIPAddress | Select IPAddress, InterfaceAlias | Out-GridView

What you get from the above command is a grid view output which can be copied and pasted into a document.

Security News: Citrix Breach

If you haven’t heard, Citrix was breached through a compromised employee account due to password spraying. The exploitation of weak passwords has become an increasing area of worry for all of us in the IT area where security is relevant. It’s been said that a compromised account was used to access and stead 6TB of sensitive data from email, file shares, and database applications.

At this…

Techshort: What is microk8s? | Just what I know today -- I'll know more tomorrow #k8s #linux #kubernetes #docker #snap #ubuntu

microk8s is Kubernetes, installed locally! microk8s is designed to be a fast and lightweight upstream Kubernetes install isolated from your host but not via a virtual machine. This isolation is achieved by packaging all the upstream binaries for Kubernetes, Docker.io, iptables, and CNI in a single appliication container

What I have learned is that if you have been a user of Docker then Kub…

Techshort: Difference between horizontal and vertical scaling

As system & application owners we encounter a point where we need to grow our environment, but the question that often occurs is in what way do we scale.

So let’s start with some defining methods of scaling today:

Horizontal scaling – where you scale by adding more machines (workers) into your pool of resources. Vertical scaling – where you scale by adding more power (CPU, RAM, DISK) to an…

ADPREP Error – Promoting Windows Server 2016 in 2008 R2 Forest/domain

When promoting a Windows Server 2016 to DC, adprep fails with an error that an attribute or value already exists. I am unsure if I caused this by attemping to add mutiple DC’s at the same time (race condition).

Error: The DN is CN=Send-As,CN=Extended-Rights,CN=Configuration,DC=.

The error logs were located: C:\Windows\debug\adprep\logs\

Entry DN:…

Installing Docker on Ubuntu 18.04

To start, make sure our system is up to date

Update your systems: sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get upgrade

Once the system is up to date, we install Docker followed by portainer which is a simple management solution for Docker. It consists of a web UI that allows you to easily manage your Docker containers, images, networks, etc.. For more info – https://portainer.readthedocs.io/en/stable/

Tech Short: Configure IP address in RHEL | #Networking #Linux #RHEL #TechShort

The following short should help someone who needs to configure an IP address or networking on a RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux) server post install, or if they are looking to modify an existing host.

The ‘classic’ method of doing this would be to vi or nano to ‘/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts’ and edit the name of the interface.

Another method I find helpful for those who prefer a user…

And, just like that, all your advanced threat protection, anti-virus, and anti-malware protection and the bad guys are still getting to you.

There is a new phishing scam going on these days that use legitimate resources to pull off classic social engineering maneuvers to capture your information.

Enter – DocuPhish – The bad guys are now using the Docusign infrastructure to launch attacks…

VMware Recertification Policy Update | February 5, 2019

VMware just announced Changes to VMware Recertification Policy – Removal of 2 Year Requirement

As of February 5, 2019, VMware Certification will no longer have a mandatory recertification requirement. Now, you have the choice of when to recertify, rather than be required to do so every two years.

Certifications will still retire, so recertification is important to: • Validate your expertise…

Visual Cues / Indicators for Externally Received Email | #o365 #phishing #security

Like most companies, I use email is a tool to communicate. I can’t imagine not having it to communicate with my staff or management teams. This tool is not only used by me for the daily business, but also by scammers who attempt to defraud companies and their staff with nefarious emails attempting to violate one’s trust.

What Are Visual Email Indicators?

A visual indicator is a…

Please Don’t Fall for Gift Card Scam

I have touched on this in the past and well, here I go again…

The iTunes & Google Play Gift Card scam are common ways people are conned out of their cash today. If you think this happens to just the common home user, think again. Many corporations are plagued daily with fake emails and text messages from bad actors’ attempts to compromise one’s trust and desire to quickly please their…

How To Install VMware PowerCLI Module using Powershell – Online Method

To use VMware PowerCLI you need to first install/enable the modules on your client computer. The steps provided below are of steps that I have frequently taken to install on my Windows 10 client machines.

Install VMware PowerCLI Module From PC With Internet Connection From a Windows 10 client with an internet connection open powershell (as an administrator) and issue the following commands:

Food for thought, Ending 2018 with this in mind

With less than 48 hours left in the year 2018, I have a simple and meaningful message to you, my friends and family.

If you take a piece of rotten fruit and place it beside perfectly good fruit…what eventualy happens?

The mold from the rotten fruit spreads over to the good fruit and both end up in bad condition.

So what happens when you surround yourself with people who do not build you…

Codename 19H1: The Latest Windows 10 Insider Preview

The latest Windows 10 Insider Preview, Codename 19H1, Version 1903, Build 10.0.18305 (also called Windows 10 19H1, Windows 10 18305, Windows 10 1903) is available for free download, upgrade, and manual offline installation through bootable DVD or USB flash drive on Windows-powered computers and laptops for testing and experimenting.

Windows 10 Insider Preview Editions:

Free Windows 10 ISO…