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For small to medium-sized business owners in today’s digital landscape, protecting against cyber threats is critical to maintaining a reputable, secure operation. With email remaining one of the most common entry points for cyber-attacks, it’s vital that your Managed Service Provider (MSP) deploys effective security measures. At Trichromic LLP, we’re committed to safeguarding our clients by implementing email authentication protocols like SPF, DKIM, ARC, and DMARC. These tools help stop spam, phishing, and spoofing attempts that can put your business, employees, and customers at risk.

Understanding Email Authentication and Its Importance

The protocols SPF (Sender Policy Framework), DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail), ARC (Authenticated Received Chain), and DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) work together to verify the identity of the sender and ensure that messages have not been altered during transmission. Here’s a quick rundown of what each protocol does:

1.  SPF: Checks whether the server sending an email is authorized by the domain’s owner, reducing the chance of fraudulent emails pretending to be from your domain.

2. DKIM: Adds a cryptographic signature to each email, ensuring that the message hasn’t been tampered with en route to the recipient.

3. DMARC: Provides your domain with a set of policies for handling unauthenticated emails. DMARC combines SPF and DKIM results and lets you specify how failed messages should be handled (quarantined or rejected) and receive reports on these failures.

4. ARC: Ensures the continuity of authentication for emails that are forwarded or relayed through third-party services. Without ARC, emails forwarded through services like mailing lists may fail authentication checks, leading to unnecessary rejections.

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Here at Trichromic we prefer not to use too many computer-related terms (Three Letter Acronyms (TLAs),etc) and unnecessary IT jargon when communicating with our clients’.

However, these can’t always be avoided (and some like to use them when they shouldn’t) so here you’ll find a categorised glossary of the most commonly used terms and abbreviations which could be useful to anyone talking to IT departments or even an outsourced IT managed service provider like Trichromic. We’ll keep expanding this list and adding descriptions when time permits so please keep visiting to view the latest updates. You can contact us for more information on any of the descriptions below or even to find out how Trichromic can help improve the efficiency of your business processes by harnessing the latest technology. ~ Lloyd Reid

AD — Active Directory
AI — Artificial Intelligence
AGI — Artificial General Intelligence
ASCII — American Standard Code for Information Interchange
ANSI — American National Standards Institute
ASIC — Application-Specific Integrated Circuit
ASN — Advanced Shipping Notice
B2B — Business-to-Business
B2C — Business-to-Consumer
BOM — Bill Of Materials
BSD — Berkeley Software Distribution
BYOD — Bring Your Own Device
CAD — Computer-Aided Design
CAM — Cybersecurity Awareness Month Continue reading →

BT have recently confirmed that the switch-off of lines will now occur by January 31, 2027, rather than the original deadline of December 2025 – this includes the switch-off of Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN). This delay is a significant development for customers, and we feel it is important that you understand what it means for your business.
At Trichromic we want to keep our customers informed about the latest developments in the UK’s full-fibre future. For those who are currently using analogue (PSTN) or ISDN lines for calls, alarms, fax machines, PDQ machines or, CCTV, these will need to be replaced with digital solutions at some point.

Why the Delay?

The delay is primarily due to the need to ensure a smoother transition for vulnerable customers and those with additional needs. The extra time allows for a more comprehensive approach to migrating these customers to digital landlines, ensuring they receive the necessary support and equipment to maintain their connectivity. Continue reading →

Following on from our recent post regarding the switch-off of PSTN (the very old UK system phone system that runs on copper wires), we thought it would be a good idea to debunk some of the scare stories regarding digital phone lines that are doing the rounds.
The PSTN switch-off should be happening in 2025. From then on, at home or at work, we’ll all be using digital phone services. Many businesses have already successfully made the move to digital – they’re already enjoying the many benefits of a new phone system.

At Trichromic we understand that not everyone is fully conversant how digital phone systems work and you may have heard rumours that the technology is not as robust as it should be. We’d like to debunk some of these myths. Here goes:

1. Calls over the internet aren’t as good as those made over a normal phone line
They’re better. Back in the early days of internet calls this observation may have been true. But the tech is no longer new – there have been huge improvements in network connectivity. It’s sophisticated, and delivers crystal clear audio with no more dropouts, tinny voices, echoes, or delays. Continue reading →

There is a major change coming to phone systems across the UK in 2025 – we will all have to use digital phone services.

What is happening?

The UK’s phone network is being upgraded – every landline cable is switching to faster, more reliable and responsive Internet Protocol (IP) technology. To use the IP network, any systems connected to a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) or Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) phone line will need to be moved to a IP-based service.

At Trichromic we understand that not everyone is aware of this change and what it means to them. So, over the next few weeks we will be giving you the facts about this change and what you need to do to maintain your business communication systems.

The world of telecoms is full of confusing acronyms, especially when it comes to line rental. PTSN, ISDN, SIP, VoIP – what do all these acronyms mean? And which one is right for your business?
Here are the main differences between the big three: PSTN, ISDN and SIP. Continue reading →

A recent security breach at password management service LastPass was the result of one of its engineers failing to update a movie streaming app on their home computer. Thus is a sobering reminder of the dangers of failing to keep software up to date and business and personal software separate.

It appears unknown hackers leveraged information stolen from an incident that took place in August last year and a second attack between August and October 2022.

The attack enabled the hacker to steal partially encrypted password vault data and customer information. The second attack specifically singled out one of the DevOps engineers, targeting their home computer with a keylogger malware to obtain the credentials and breach the company’s cloud storage. Continue reading →

Personal and financial information, including names, billing and delivery addresses, phone numbers, order details and the final four digits of payment cards of approximately 10 million customers of Fashion retailer JD Sports were potentially accessed by hackers in a cyber-attack.

This data is related to some online orders placed between November 2018 and October 2020.

The affected JD Sports group brands are JD, Millets, Blacks, Scott’s, and Millet Sport. If exploited, this information could be used by cybercriminals to attempt phishing attacks, which could lead to financial loss or even identity theft. Continue reading →

Microsoft has confirmed support for Windows 8.1 and Microsoft 365 Office apps installed on the Operating System has come to an end. This may have you jumping for joy, but it is bad news if you find yourself stuck with an unsupported operating system.

Any individual or organisation still running Windows 8.1 (including Microsoft 365 apps on Windows 8.1) will be affected. Support for Windows 8 ended on 12^th January 2016. The problem is Windows 8.1, which up until now has been supported, is now having it’s support canned as well. To make matters worse, the support was pulled on 10^th January 2023 and there will be no extensions. Continue reading →

Hopefully our recent post will help you avoid some of the Christmas cyber scams out there. Unfortunately, there are plenty of these.

Here are some more scams to be aware of and how to avoid them:

 

 

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