If you follow the news you have probably already heard of the Meltdown and Spectre security vulnerabilities affecting a large portion of the processors used in computers, tablets and smartphones. But you may be asking yourself, what are they really? Am I at risk? What can I do about it?

 
What are Meltdown and Spectre?
No, they aren't James Bond movies (technically one of them was). Meltdown is an exploit that allows attacks to bypass the layer between applications and hardware to access the computer's memory.

The Problem
Our team recently came across an issue where customers reported to us that the CRM Client for Outlook appears to be properly configured and connected, but the CRM records do not display as expected.
The Symptoms
The problem manifests as “waiting for a page to be retrieved” and the expected records from CRM are never brought after waiting over an hour.

This new version of the Petya ransomware is spreading rapidly, affecting organizations, businesses, and end users, turning into an outbreak reminiscent of the one caused by WannaCry.  It has already impacted many organizations, both large and small.

The attackers are distributing the ransomware, dubbed Petya, via a malicious email campaign targeting human resource departments.

Microsoft announced the new Surface Pro this week. It’s available for pre-order now with availability expected 6/15/2017. The new Surface Pro continues the iconic look and feel of previous Surface Pros, but has been completely redesigned from the inside out.

The WannaCry cyber-attack has been in the forefront of the news headlines worldwide. WannaCry has infected over 200,000 machines to date. Over 150 Countries and organizations such as FedEX, Nissan and Renault were infected.

A complex password is your front line of defense against your work or personal accounts being compromised by a cyber intrusion. The stronger this front line is the less likely you are of becoming a victim of a cyber-attack. Per the FBI’s website the threat of cyber-attacks is incredibly serious and growing. Cyber intrusions are also becoming more commonplace, more dangerous, and more sophisticated.

Beringer Associates is very proud to be recognized among the Top 250 IT Managed Services Providers in North America focused on the SMB Market by Computer Reseller News (CRN). CRN publishes the MSP 500 list annually. For 2016 Beringer Associates is featured in the elite group of the MSP Pioneer 250 on that list.