When I first heard the term cloud computing, I thought it was just putting your server in a data center and accessing it from anywhere. This is a similar concept, and has its benefits. About a year ago we lost power in our office for about 3 hours. All of our servers were in-house, connected to a big UPS battery backup that lasted all of about 20 minutes. We rely heavily on our servers to report the status and health of our clients’ networks, and to provide remote support and maintenance. It was an awful feeling. I started sending people home where they at least had internet access, but without our servers, it did us no good. It was then we decided we needed to make some changes. We started pricing power generators and special air conditioners. These just weren’t realistic, and still had limitations. We moved all of our critical servers to a datacenter. Redundant power, cooling and internet are just what we wanted to be able to work from anywhere. Even if our office has no power, we can find an internet connection and get to work. Now we host several client servers at our datacenter, so they can have the same benefits.

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A few months back we had a client’s network compromised by a former employee, stealing information for a competitor.  This network had a high end firewall, an encrypted wireless network, and security measures in place to prevent something like this from happening, yet it still happened. 

It happened because people don’t like to remember a lot of passwords.  I can’t say I blame them, I think we’re all guilty of using the same password all over the place sometimes for years.  Unbeknownst to me, everyone in this company new the boss’ password.  It’s the same password he used on everything, which forced him to let others know what it was so they could do things like configure the security system, login to web sites, setup the phones, etc.  This ex-employee used that password to login to their system after he was released, and downloaded critical data he used to better his position where he was working for a competitor.

I showed him how to change his password after this employee was let go, which he did.  However, putting a “1” at the end of the existing password in my mind doesn’t constitute a password change. 

I can’t stress enough the importance of complex passwords.  Sometimes we will setup a new server for a client who has never had passwords before, and they complain like crazy that I’m forcing them to have a password to sign in, especially complex ones.  To them I say, “wah.”  A complex password must include 3 out of 4 character types: uppercase, lowercase, numbers or symbols.  If you are using a password that doesn’t meet these requirements, I suggest you change it.  Hackers can perform what are called dictionary attacks, where a program will automatically try every word in the dictionary with your username, attempting to get to your data.  Complex passwords aren’t in the dictionary, and are harder to crack with other types of attacks as well. 

If you have a server in your office, changing your password can be easy.  Simply press ctrl-alt-del all at once.  If you see a change password button, click it and follow the instructions.  For machines without a server, the password can be changed in the control panel, under the users section.  It is especially critical for server based networks, as one password could protect access to your machine locally or remotely, as well as access to email or other data. 

Don’t put it on a sticky note underneath your keyboard either. 

Its not difficult to make an existing password meet complexity requirements, just change a lowercase letter to uppercase, through a symbol at the end, and your password becomes complex, and hopefully you can still remember it.  Changing it at least every 6 months or so is not a bad idea either.  Even if you don’t think you’re data is worth protecting, think of the damage it could do in the wrong hands.

Top 7 password mistakes:

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As computers progress and get cheaper, it is often easier and cheaper to replace a computer than it is to fix it. Some of our clients aren’t used to this approach. Many have been using computers since they cost $5,000 and are accustomed to maximizing the investment by getting as much use as possible out of the computer. Here are some of the reasons I give when I tell clients their money would be better spent replacing a problematic PC older than 3 years:

• Productivity. Almost everyone who gets a new computer talks about how much faster it is compared to the old one. For business owners, that means your employees can be more productive, and hopefully make you more money.
• Data protection. While it is always good to test your backup strategy, doing so by experiencing a failed hard drive is not what I would recommend. A 3+year old hard drive is in some cases a ticking time bomb. It is much easier to replace a computer before the hard drive dies.
• New programs and features. Often times, companies contact us when they have a new program they want to install that won’t run on the computers they are currently using. This means that if they want to run the new program, all computers need to be upgraded or usually replaced.
• Warranties. As a machine gets older, it is often more difficult to find replacement parts for some components. By being covered by a manufacturer’s warranty, we can typically receive all necessary parts next business day, free of charge.
• Budgets. When you drive a computer until the wheels fall off, it is difficult to predict what the expenses will be. Computers often die a slow death, requiring on-site visits to replace failed components and employee downtime. If a company decides to replace all computers every three or four years, it is easy to plan in advance, before yearly budgets are created, which machines will need to be replaced during that year.

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