Month: October 2016

Dealing with CryptoLocker: Why We Do What We Do

As the owner of Triton Technologies, I go through constant training when it comes to MSP services, products and support methodologies.

I was at a conference in Hartford Connecticut and listening to other business owners and I heard something that isn’t heard in our office:

“Cryptolocker is kicking our butts.”

We Take Security Seriously

I can barely remember the last time I had to deal with any type of crypto virus. It was early last year (1.5+ years) and it was a personal laptop someone brought into one of our clients to use when there was some downtime. The virus was actually running in the background and they had put it on standby and took it to work. When they opened it up, it continued but the network had all the necessary defenses to prevent it from being more than a blind annoyance.

Our network firewall, the antivirus on all machines, the SSL and third party confirmed certificate communication was all working to prevent it from getting in and it worked perfectly.

The Best IT Solutions are Proactive

The call when it came was a shock but after reviewing the logs, the firewall defenses and the internetwork logs, it was mitigated and shutdown before it did anything actually.

We implement the firewalls, the solutions, the antivirus, the backup, the monitoring and the third party patching because… IT WORKS. It just works, and it keeps the hackers, viruses and more at bay.

Some clients we work with thing we’re over-the-top when it comes to planning and security, but not one has been sad when they realized by taking our advice, they got the tech they needed for dealing with CryptoLocker and avoided having their own data being held hostage against them. If you’re looking for just that kind of solution, contact us.

Security Risk: Why We Don’t Show Client Testimonials

No testimonials please.

If you have been around this website for any period of time, you’ll notice no testimonials. Why?

Testimonials are a source of pride for many but it is also a source of hacking and targets for their clients. You might be surprised to find out how much information a hacker can learn about a company through their testimonials.

Hackers Can Use Testimonials to Find Weaknesses

Every business does their own thing and does it slightly differently than the other people in the same field, IT services is no different. By analyzing what that person does and how that company does it a person could get into that client’s network and utilize their weaknesses get into their infrastructure.

So we don’t post any testimonials to our web page nor to our Facebook page. It is considered a medium risk when it comes to data security and compliance.

Once a hacker knows how the infrastructure is established and how the systems are setup that information could be used to penetrate and destroy that network.

Security Over Celebrity

In one of our previous blog posts, we posted about how a data breach at the source of an RMM service called Continuum caused havoc throughout the MSP world by giving them unfettered access to all the resources to all their MSPs.

That was bad and still continues to be bad for those affected clients.

You’ll never see a solicited post for a testimonial on our public pages. Think of us as the strong, silent type. Want to learn more? Contact us.

IT Hardware: Why Name Brands Make a Difference

Or “Why We Don’t Build Our Own IT Hardware”.

I know I am treading in dangerous waters here when I say that we don’t support self-built machines.

What does that mean? At Triton Technologies we prefer and only sell major name brands: Dell, Lenovo, HP, Apple etc. Why? Compatibility and ease of serviceability.

A Little History of Triton and Self-Built Machines

Years ago from 2001 to 2004 we built our own machines and sold them. The warranties, the hardware failures and the ability to maintain them have been a major undertaking. Absolutely huge. The hard drive would have one warranty, the memory another, CPU, motherboard, etc. It was a journey just to keep it all in line.

That’s when Dell approached us through one of our major suppliers. They had a reseller/VAR plan that we could then order immediately a machine, and have it delivered in record time. So we ordered, and ordered and ordered.  They were well-built machines and lasted significantly longer. Accessories, software and upgrades were easy to acquire and install.

Triton Today and Our Hardware

So within a half year, we stopped all production on self-built machines. We signed up for other vendor VAR programs and we concentrated on the best of the breed. It is working well.

Why are we telling you about this? In our office, when a technician comes on board, they have an option of one of our workstations through Dell, Lenovo or HP or they can build their own.

Two of our technicians decided to build their own. Years later I can tell you with certainty that they have been the most problematic machines in our office, which are slated to be removed by the end of this month. The Lenovos, Dells and HPs are just humming along without any major issues.

Name Brand vs. Self-Built

We have had customers ask us to service their workstations that they built and after spending thousands of dollars more than what the machines are worth, they eventually replaced them with name brand machines. Their servicing plummeted to nothing. We thought we actually lost a client, but they were ecstatic that the computer presented no problems at all and actually ordered more a few months later.

That is why we only recommend name brand leaders and their equipment, it just solves so many problems. Want to know what we’d recommend for your business? Contact us.

Taming The VoIP Beast

Or “VoIP Issues and How to Solve Them by Calling Us”.

Triton Technologies years ago was created to help the business user and the business owner: over the years we have acquired products, companies and so forth in order to grow. One of them is the skill and ability for dealing with VoIP issues.

Years ago, we acquired a failing telephone provider out of New York state and transferred all the licensing to ourselves. It took about a year to clean up the issues, but we did it and the clients we happy as punch.

Troubleshooting VOIP Issues

We’re known in the Northeast of the United States for solving VoIP issues. They aren’t that hard if you know what you are looking for, but sometimes they can be the most obvious.

VoIP is a different beast than most systems. It requires precision, accuracy, scheduling and configurations through specialized equipment such as a layer 2 or layer 3 switch, firewalls, ISPs configurations and so forth. We’ve been doing it for so long we have it down to a science.

The Woes of Self-Installation

A month ago a new client called us up and explained they were having a VoIP call quality issue, which was evident through the conversation we were having. We setup a time, came down and within minutes realized their mistake.

They had set it up themselves. That’s not the main problem, but part of the problem. VoIP needs settings, all sorts of settings to make it perfect. They had no firewall, the switch was not engaged for QoS and the modem was in a NAT mode which the ISP did not support tagged packet passthrough. For a better diagram, no better than a network printer.

So after consulting with their corporate overlords, they disbelieved what we told them and we went on our way.

Weeks Later: The Crisis and Solution

2 weeks later, the manager of the location called us back. They agreed to order everything and install it as soon as possible. Why? They lost an order which would have equaled the cost of the equipment a 1000 times over. “Replace it, replace it now, just fix it!”, he said.

The equipment was ordered overnight and installed in the afternoon. Within minutes it made a significant difference. They could instantly tell and feel the call quality difference and we put it through its paces. I asked EVERYONE to call someone, ANYONE: call a vendor, a client, your spouse, your mom, ANYONE. 24 users called at once and NOT A SINGLE warble, jitter, or call drop was heard. The system previously could only take 2 calls before it started dropping.

It’s been a solid week and we followed up with them yesterday, NOT A SINGLE issue.

The manager was pleased and advised their corporate managers for us to recommend for further dealing with VoIP issues in other locations.

The VoIP beast can be tamed, you just need to know how to train it to jump through hoops. Learn more about VoIP here and contact us.