News

It’s that time of year again – Christmas is around the corner and many of us will be looking forward to some down time with our families and friends.

There is one industry that never has time off – fraudsters and criminals. The Christmas break is actually a very busy time for them; lots of opportunity to part people from their money and data whilst our guards are down.

At Trichromic we take cybercrime very seriously and to help you out we spoke to our local bobby who kindly flagged up his ‘top 3’ frauds and how to avoid them: Continue reading →

In recent weeks, our team of friendly experts at Trichromic have been contacted by a several customers who have had difficulty connecting to their IT systems due to a new process. The cause of the problem is Outlook 2013 not being automatically configured to use Modern Authentication so, it loses the ability to connect to the 365 Exchange Online mailbox.  This is a very frustrating issue that wastes a lot of your valuable time.

Modern Authentication is an umbrella term for a combination of authentication and authorisation methods between a client (for example, your laptop or your phone) and a server. Basically, it is a method of identity management that offers more secure user authentication and authorisation.

Modern Authentication is a good thing – it improves security. The use of the current Basic Authentication process is being removed for Exchange Online mailboxes on Microsoft 365 and replaced with Modern Authentication across all Microsoft products.

But there is a fix for this…

Continue reading →

Microsoft is investigating user reports of issues with Remote Desktop on Windows 11 systems after installing the Windows 11 22H2 Update.

Affected administrators and home users have been sharing their experiences across several online platforms, including Microsoft’s Q&A community platform for IT professionals.

Installing the Windows 11 22H2 feature update will cause Remote Desktop clients not to connect, randomly disconnect, or freeze unexpectedly.

A Windows admin said on Microsoft’s Community site, “All of our Remote Desktop Users using Windows 11 are having problems connecting to Remote Desktop after installing this update. It just hangs at connecting,”.

It appears there is a bug in the Remote Desktop client which is affecting the connection to another device – basically, the Windows 11 client only seems try one protocol (UDP) but, if this cannot process the data traffic, the secondary protocol (TCP) isn’t used, and the connection fails. Continue reading →

If the Windows computers in the office are turned on 24/7, this method could help reduce electricity usage and create less heat, which could further reduce the energy consumed by air conditioning.

Most newer Windows computers are configured to use the ‘Balanced’ power plan by default, and this makes sense because the Central Processing Until (CPU) clocks down when not being heavily utilised and clocked up when more performance is required.   However, the ‘Balanced’ power plan does result in slower performing computers, so the ‘High Performance’ power plan is often preferred during working hours.  There’s also a ‘Power Saver’ plan which could potentially save more power.

One option to save energy and create less heat is to manually change the power plan just before finishing work, and when starting work, but most people will forget to do this.

A better solution is to schedule these changes to be made using the Windows Task Scheduler or the Managed Service Provider’s (MSPs) preferred Remote Management & Monitoring (RMM) system. Continue reading →

Trichromic has proudly renewed their Cyber Essentials certification.

The standard is part of the UK Government’s National Cyber Security Strategy and demonstrates our commitment to cyber security, our ability to safeguard our own systems, the hosting services we deliver to clients, and it reinforces our capabilities as a managed services provider.

Launched in 2014, the Cyber Essentials scheme focuses on promoting the essential security controls that organisations need to have in place in order to reduce the risk posed by threats on the Internet. The scheme addresses five key controls that, when implemented correctly according to the government, could prevent around 80% of cyber attacks:

Continue reading →

Security researchers have recently warned that hackers are compromising Microsoft Teams accounts to access chats and spread malicious executable files and programmes to participants in the conversation.

Over a quarter of a million users rely on Microsoft Teams every month with many of these trusting the platform implicitly, despite the absence of protections against malicious files.

Simple but efficient method

Researchers found that hackers started to drop malicious executable files in conversations on Microsoft Teams communication platform. The attacks started in January and there has been thousands of them. From the data available, most attacks were recorded at organisations in the Great Lakes region in the U.S., with local media outlets being a particular target.

The perpetrator inserts an executable file called “User Centric” into the chat to trick the user into running it. Once executed, the malware writes data into the system registry installs Dynamic Link Libraries (DLLs) and establishes a presence on the Windows machine. Basically, it takes over the computer. Continue reading →

When your on-site server comes to the end of its life or it no longer suits your business needs, you face a choice.

1) Invest in an upgraded owned server

2) Migrate to the cloud with a server free solution

3) Take a ‘hybrid’ approach, with a mix of cloud and locally hosted systems or services.

In this guide we’ll walk you though the decision-making process and suggest key questions the management team should ask before making a decision.

Request our free eBook

Many businesses have been encouraging staff to work from home (at least some of the time) during the pandemic, and for many people this has become ‘the new norm’.

Can hybrid working (office and remote working) be ‘the new norm’ once Covid restrictions have been fully removed?

There are pros and cons with both office and home/remote working. (Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters)

 

Working from home has some benefits:

1. Studies have found that people can be more productive when working from home.
2. Less travel to work means cost savings, less congestion, and less air pollution.
3. Empty offices don’t need heating.

This needs to be balanced with some of the downsides: Continue reading →

Have you noticed the rapid pace of change in technology these days? Technology component costs appear to be lower than ever and the ability to connect individuals around the globe has dramatically accelerated the capacity for innovation, and businesses need to constantly adapt or fall behind.

This is a two edged sword. Whilst our businesses have the opportunity to use this new and exciting technology, our people, systems, and processes can’t always keep up with such rapid change. These gaps together with outside problems such as staff using technology from home, ransomware, and supply chain attacks have led to Cybersecurity becoming increasingly important for all businesses.

Recent ransomware attacks on Colonial Pipeline and JBS Foods have shown that targeting IT systems is a really effective way to damage our businesses and extort money from corporations.

Very often the weakest link in cybersecurity is humans. Rather than using purely technical methods to crack into a business, hackers use social engineering tactics such as phishing to get information from our employees. These attacks prey on the soft spots of human psychology, and an event such as a global pandemic makes those soft spots even more pronounced.

Throughout October, Trichromic will be sharing resources such as blogs, webinars and podcasts focusing on the cybersecurity issues that we feel are most important to our customers and contacts. If any of this communication hits a nerve and you would like to speak with one of our team to better understand the threats or what you can do to mitigate them or you would like a complementary review of your systems, please call us on: 020 3327 0310

Or send us an enquiry via our website at:

https://www.trichromic.co.uk/contact

Investigators at the largest fuel pipeline in the US are working to recover from a devastating cyber-attack that cut the flow of oil. The hack on Colonial Pipeline is being seen as one of the most significant attacks on critical national infrastructure in history.

How can a pipeline be hacked?

Colonial Pipeline relies on digital technology to control the flow of diesel, petrol, and jet fuel across hundreds of miles of piping. It even has a robot that scurries through its pipes that checks for anomalies. All this technology is connected to a central system, and where there is connectivity, there is risk of cyber-attack.

How did the hackers break in?

Direct attacks on operational technology are rare because these systems are usually better protected. So it’s more likely the hackers gained access to Colonial’s computer system through the administrative side of the business.

Continue reading →