The Year Zero virus goes by a number of names including Cryptolocker but the end result is the same: all files encrypted and no way of getting them back.
The virus, once activated, goes through your computer and network drives and encrypts everything and without a backup, you can lose all your date; and unfortunately, we've been called out to a number of businesses who had fallen victim to this misrable and most destructive virus.
With this nasty virus still very much out there, it's always nice to hear that the firewalls we've installed at various client offices are reporting back that the virus has been detected and removed.
We get regular, almost daily, reports from our own firewall stating a malicious email has been stripped of an attachment which contained the Cryptolocker virus. We also get clients forwarding us emails they'd been sent by the firewall telling them that an attack had been stopped.
All of our clients who have had a firewall installed have seen and noticed the benefit of having a firewall installed.
The initial outlay, which some businesses might consider an expense they don't need, more than outweighs the consequences of receiving a virus.
Don't forgt, a firewall stops everything BEFORE it gets into the network. It can monitor bad websites, reduce spam, strip out bad attachments and prevent unauthorised access to the company network or to websites you don't want your staff wasting their time visiting.
There are many benefits to having a firewall and we'd not be without one.
A client of ours had a large office space but wanted to divide that office space so they could sub-let those offices. This allowed them to down-size their own business without having to move premises.
This meant there was now the main central office and 5 smaller sub-offices. All needed to have separate networks but the main office wanted its own Internet connection whilst providing the sub-offices with a single, shared Internet connection and yet separate from each other.
To achieve this, we installed a Watchguard XTM-330 firewall and set two internet connections to be connected to it.
We then used a managed switch to separate the various offices into subnets and used the firewall to route the two Internet connections to the correct offices.
This meant the main office had it's own Internet connection with the firewall protecting its servers through its own set of security rules and the sub offices shared an Internet connection but each office was able to be given its own set of security rules.
It took a lot of time to create all the rules but this has meant each office is protected by a state of the art firewall whilst being totally separate from each other.
We have just completed a new wi-fi installation at The Wyastone Hotel in Cheltenham.
The old wi-fi system consisted of various brands of wi-fi access points running at a maximum speed of 54 mbps and there were regular drop-outs and some dead spots.
We have since installed 4 long-range wi-fi access points, each with a range of 300 feet and running at 300 Mbps. This has meant a faster, more stable, wi-fi network and without any dead spots.
All wi-fi access points can be controlled and monitored from a single PC through an intuitive interface which will allow an administrator to see which wi-fi access points are being used or which units are having problems.
In order to place the wi-fi access points where there we no power supplies, each access point was PoE capable meaning power was sent down the ethernet cable supplied from a single PoE switch.
Cheltenham Computer Specialists provide expert IT support services for businesses and home users. We cover Cheltenham and Gloucestershire and offer a wide range of computer support sevices including repairs, upgrades, new installations or maintenance of current systems.
Based in Cheltenham, our business has grown due to our efficient service, quick repsonse times and expertise which ensures our customers receive the correct advice and the best solution to fit their needs.