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FIBER OPTICS COMING TO CUSTER

Mid-Rivers Communications is nearing completion of a fiber optic construction project that includes all residents in the town of Custer and surrounding rural customers in the 856 telephone prefix area.  

The Cooperative enlisted contractor MP Nexlevel to plow more than 100 miles of fiber to approximately 220 subscribers.  The contractor has been working since May and has completed in-town construction and fiber splicing to each customer location.  Rural construction is nearly completed, pending approval of some remaining river-crossing permits.

Mid-Rivers will begin moving customers over to the new fiber optic lines, which will provide “Gigabit” Internet speed capability and improved voice quality and reliability, in mid-September.  Customers in the town of Custer will be converted first, with rural customer transitions to begin mid-October.

“We are excited to be able to bring fiber to small rural communities like Custer, and to the farmers and ranchers and other home-based rural businesses and residents outside of town,” stated Michael Candelaria, the Cooperative’s General Manager/CEO.  “The Custer area will have better communications facilities than a lot of large towns and cities.  This is the best broadband technology available today.”

Mid-Rivers Telephone Cooperative, Inc. members gathered at the Community Center in Roundup on Thursday, May 31, 2018, for the 66th Meeting of the Members. Items of business included electing three members to the Cooperative’s board of trustees, informing members of the cooperative’s financial performance and future plans, and awarding 12 scholarships to area students. Trustees Nick Schultz (District 1) and Dennis Green (District 3) were re-elected to three-year terms to the Mid-Rivers Board of Trustees. Barb Wacker (District 2) was elected to serve a three-year term to the Mid-Rivers Board of Trustees.

Mid-Rivers’ General Manager/CEO Michael Candelaria and Chief Financial Officer Craig Dyk provided an update on the financial condition of the cooperative and announced the cooperative had a record year in 2017. Candelaria and Dyk also gave an update on the status of the Cooperative’s long-term fiber build-out plan.

Door prizes including Amazon Echo Devices, iPads and cash prizes were handed out during the meeting.

Mid-Rivers continued its commitment to education by awarding twelve $500 scholarships through a drawing of students attending the meeting. These twelve scholarships are offered to any student attending a higher education institution in the fall of 2018, whose parent or guardian is a member of the Cooperative. Through this drawing and the $40,000 in competitive scholarships awarded earlier in the year, Mid-Rivers was able to contribute to the educational futures of 40 students from 15 communities. Winners of the 2018 scholarship drawing were Abby Gremaux, McKenna Sealey, Taylor Stahl, Jake Kunda, Cormac Weichel, Derrick Reimann, Courtney Brand, Ashley Donnelly, Selina Angel, Lanning Tyrrel, Connor Shaw and Glenna Finkbeiner. Mid-Rivers Higher Education Scholarships are funded by unclaimed capital credits. Montana Law requires that after 5 years, capital credit payments that remain unclaimed be placed into a fund for educational use. Mid-Rivers has chosen to use these funds for scholarships and educational grants to members.

Mid-Rivers Communications is proud to announce the recipients of 27 Scholarships to students from the Cooperative’s service area. Six $1,500 scholarships were awarded to students planning to attend either Dawson Community College or Miles Community College, and 20 $1,000 scholarships were awarded to students planning to attend a four-year college or university, community college or tech school in the fall of 2018. One $10,000 Excellence in Education scholarship was also awarded to a local student.

A $1,500 Dawson Community College/Miles Community College Scholarship has been awarded to the following recipients:

·        Adalie Reinhart, Glendive - DCC

·          Attending DCC in the fall to complete an Associate’s Degree before moving on to a dental hygienist program.  Plans to return and provide great service to her local community.

·        Elizabeth Determan, Glendive - MCC

·          Long-term goal is a Master’s in Nursing after completing the nursing program at MCC.  Hopes to return to Glendive as a full-time nurse at GMC.

·        McKayla Kurtz, Miles City - MCC

·          Working toward acceptance into the MCC Nursing Program and becoming a CNA this summer to pursue her career goal of becoming a nurse.

·        McKinna Fleming, Circle - MCC

·          Current MCC student who hopes to complete her MCC studies in the Small Business field with honors, and then apply what she has learned to local jobs in her hometown of Circle.

·        Vanesa Van Vleet, Wibaux - DCC

·          Enrolled in the Early Start program at DCC with the long-term goal of becoming a Medical Doctor and returning to Montana to practice medicine.

·        Wyatt Smith, Miles City - MCC

·          Plans to attain an Associate’s Degree in Science (Pre-Engineering Technology emphasis), and then go out and further his experience in the real world.

 A $1,000 Mid-Rivers Higher Education Scholarship has been awarded to the following recipients:

·         Jace Johnson, Sidney

·          Has been accepted to Dickinson State University where he plans to double major in Finance/Accounting, with a minor in coaching.

·         Jesse Roberts, Kinsey

·          Will work towards a Master’s in Mechanical Engineering from Montana Tech. Plans to use this degree to design equipment to aid in the advancement of the agriculture industry. 

·         Kale Gierke, Terry

·          Has been accepted to Black Hills State University, in Spearfish, SD where he will work towards a degree in business administration and management.

·         Kristy Cullinan, Glendive

·          Currently working towards degrees in both Music and Biology at Northwest College in Powell. Plans to transfer to South Dakota State University to complete her Bachelor’s Degree.

·         Kyle Haughian, Miles City

·          Plans to attend Montana State University to earn a degree and work toward becoming an Ag Loan Officer.

·         Lauryn Barnhart, Sidney

·          Has a long-term goal to graduate from Montana State University-Bozeman with a Bachelor of Science degree in Cell Biology and Neuroscience while on a Pre-Med course, before attending Pharmacy School at the University of Montana in Missoula.

·         Lindsay Brence, Miles City

·          Plans to earn a degree in Cell Biology and Neuroscience and return to the area to practice health care in rural Montana.

·         Lucas Shefelbine, Wolf Point

·          Plans to attend either Carrol College or Concordia College to pursue a Bachelor’s degree.

·         Mamie Hertel, Lewistown

·          Will work toward a degree in Business Finance in Pre-Law Program before pursuing a Law Degree at Duke University.

·         McKenzie Taylor, Angela

·          Plans to graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing before obtaining her CRNA (Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist) license.

·         Adam Elletson, Fairview

·          Will work toward a Bachelor’s Degree in business management or accounting at Minot State University.

·         Alec Christensen, Glendive

·          Long-term education goal is to attend Montana State University-Bozeman and graduate with honors with a degree in Biological Sciences - Fish & Wildlife Ecology & Management.

·         Alex Wickens, Lewistown

·          Plans to earn a degree in Chiropractic care and return to Lewistown to offer chiropractic services to the area.

·         Bailee Murnion, Miles City

·          Plans to attend Montana State University to work toward a degree in Business.

·         Brian Regan, Miles City

·          Will attend Montana State University and major in electrical engineering.

·         Brynn Salsbury, Savage

·          Has been accepted into Montana State University’s Pre-Nursing program for the fall of 2018.

·         Caden Colombik, Miles City

·          Plans to attend Montana State University and complete the pre-veterinary program before enrolling in Veterinary school at Washington State University.

·         Cash Cota, Roundup

·          Attending Montana State University-Bozeman to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering with a minor in Business.

·         Daniel Rost, Baker

·          Currently attending Bismarck State College to earn an Associates in Applied Science in Power Plant Technology.

·         Ellie Smith, Richey

·          Currently works as a CNA at McCone County Healthy Center and plans to continue in the medical field by pursuing a BSN.

A $10,000 Mid-Rivers Excellence in Education Scholarship has been awarded to the following recipient:

·         Dakota Brown, Circle

·          Plans to attend Montana Tech to pursue a doctorate in Computer Science.  Dakota will also continue his internship at Mid-Rivers in the Information Technology department.

Mid-Rivers will also award twelve (12) $500 scholarships to area students through a drawing at the Cooperative’s Annual Meeting on May 31, 2018, at the Community Center in Roundup, MT.  To qualify for the scholarship drawing, the student MUST:

·         attend the Annual Meeting with a parent or guardian who is a Cooperative Member with active local telephone or Internet service from Mid-Rivers,

·         be enrolled to attend a higher education institution in the fall of 2018,

·         provide PROOF of full-time enrollment at the Annual Meeting,

·         sign up at the Scholarship Registration table at the Annual Meeting, and

·         be present during the Business Meeting when the drawing takes place.

Registration will begin at 10:00 a.m. and close at the start of the Business Meeting at 11:00 a.m.  Previous Mid-Rivers scholarship winners are not eligible for the scholarship drawing. Interested students may contact Mid-Rivers at 1-800-452-2288 for more information.  Students unsure of their parent/guardian’s membership status with the Cooperative should call Mid-Rivers prior to the Annual Meeting for verification.

In addition, a $1,000 scholarship opportunity for area residents of any age interested in completing a CiscoTM technical certification is also still available.  The successful applicant for this scholarship will also earn a paid internship opportunity with Mid-Rivers.  Please visit www.midrivers.com for details.

Think about the feeling you have when you are away from home and your phone is almost ready to die. You rush around in a panicked search for the nearest charger. When you finally find a compatible charger, you insert the cable and breathe a sigh of relief without a second thought as to what you are using to charge your phone. 

If you are an iPhone user, you may have already discovered that Apple has a convenient iTunes/Wi-Fi sync feature that lets users sync their iPhones to a computer wirelessly. This gets enabled when a user plugs their iPhone/iPad into a computer with a USB cable. A popup happens that says “Trust this Computer?”. If they click yes, the sync is allowed to happen. The problem comes from the fact that the text leads the user to believe that this is only while the device is physically connected to the computer.  But in reality, if you clicked “trust” that computer can now sync with your iPhone over wifi and there is no indication on the iPhone that this has occurred.

Trust Jacking can be used to attack your iPhone in many different scenarios. For example, if you use those free charging stations at airports and other public places, and approve the pop-up permission you may be at risk. 

Now your trusty iPhone can be used maliciously in many different ways:

Remotely install malware apps on your iPhone, as well as download a backup and steal all your photos, SMS/iMessage chat history, and application data.

Replace existing apps with modified versions that look exactly like the original but are able to spy on the user while using the app.

Use your device’s screen in real-time by repeatedly taking remote screenshots.

Mid-Rivers Information Security Manager Philip Grieser shared a few tips for protecting your phone against these types of attacks:

“Apple has introduced another security layer to combat the problem (users are asked to enter the iPhone's passcode when pairing), so if you have an update make sure to do it right away. But the vulnerability still exists because the real problem is there is no mandatory re-authentication between the user’s device and the “trusted” computer after a certain amount of time.

One of the best ways to protect yourself is to make sure that no unwanted computers are being trusted by your iPhone/iPad. Unfortunately, there is no list you can just check. But if you’re not sure if you have any unwanted computers in your trust list, you can always reset it by going to Settings > General > Reset > Reset Location & Privacy.