Last time I talked about making email safer.   I focused on inbound email to your users and outbound encrypted emails.   However, I neglected to say that advanced spam filters also work outbound.   That means that your end-users email and attachments will be scanned to protect against an inadvertent sending out of malicious content.

Last week I talked about the importance of Cloud Backup in our new remote teaching and learning and back-office school environments.

This week I am going to talk about secure and reliable communications.

The reality is that the number one threat to your network is your users clicking on attachments or web links that lead to bad places that can potentially launch an attack against the user and ultimately your physical and cloud network resources.

For the last few years Microsoft has been talking about "Modern" this or "Modern" that.  In the quest for improved security they are agressively trying to move everyone to more modern protocols.  The impending LDAPS changes are an example of this.   However, there are more processes and protocols that they are urging you to retire.

The Cybersecurity news has been pretty depressing over the last week.

I read an article that a Cybersecurity insurance company is refusing to pay for a Merck breach incident because it is NotPetya and that is from Russia and was designed as a cyber warfare tool.

Now that we have shifted to predominantly remote workers and remote teaching and learning, we have a number of new challenges as well as increased threats.

Challenge #1 - Remote File Access.   The solution is moving files from traditional home directories and traditional common drives to cloud-based shared folders and home directories.

There appears to be some confusion amongst some school districts on whether or not they need SSL certificates.

If you have internet facing web servers, access servers, VPNs, mail servers, etc in your data center, then the answer is yes you do need commercial SSL certificates to help protect these servers.

CSI is excited to announce our third hands-on learning event entitled "Introducing Microsoft Teams for Next Generation Classroom Teaching and Learning" in our classroom in partnership with Microsoft on Tuesday, April 17th from 9 am until 1 pm.

Microsoft Teams is the digital hub that brings conversations, content, and apps together in one place.

One of the most frustrating things for users and the technical staff that support them is erratic email flow.  Often users and staff don't know that their email is stuck or being rejected.  By the time the technical staff often realize there is a problem, a whole lot of email has backed up - or worse the district has been blacklisted.

One of the most frustrating things for users and the technical staff that support them is erratic email flow.  Often users and staff don't know that their email is stuck or being rejected.  By the time the technical staff often realize there is a problem, a whole lot of email has backed up - or worse the district has been blacklisted.