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A fully integrated IT solutions provider for local business clients. Serving the Upstate of South Carolina including Greenville, Spartanburg and Anderson counties.
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Security or Speed? No need to choose!
Faster doesn’t mean less secure.
SASE, Secure Access Service Edge, was built to provide low-latency, secure connections to corporate resources.
Replacing a multi-solution approach, SASE enables fast, secure, and reliable connections to all your data, devices, networks, cloud environments, SaaS apps, and the Internet from everywhere.
The SASE solution was just overhauled, updating speeds and security with Project Autobahn.
Goal
Now, with new updates to the security platform, Project Autobahn implemented three primary goals:
Implementation
The SASE backbone technology is a critical component, serving to create a secure tunnel between the user’s device and the SGN (Secure Global Network) while providing three critical functions: authentication, encryption, and routing. With massive amounts of data being protected, minimizing latency and maximizing throughput are imperative.
The SGN engineering team tested and pushed limits to improve funtionality and increase speeds. Of seven popular cryptographic libraries for the encryption/decryption process, there is a 40% speed difference between the slowest and fastest encryption functions; the team chose the fastest. Routing capabilities and speeds were increased by switching to a user-space memory, requiring fewer overall packet copies. This reduces cost and increases speed. The solution was then tested for scale to ensure that more users connecting retains the same speed and functionality.
Results
NEXT EVOLUTION IN SECURITY FOR THE SMB
PREMIEREPC ANNOUNCES
THE NEXT EVOLUTION IN SECURITY
FOR SMALL BUSINESS CLIENTS
A complete security platform which bridges the gap between endpoint protection logging and secure resource access. In addition, we are offering compliance modules and enhanced security operation center analysis.
We now have Governance Risk and Compliance and Enhanced Managed Detection and Response modules for the most enhanced compliance needs.
For ALL clients, regardless of PSL or PSC plan type, we are rolling out the next evolution in end-point security. We are partnered with a leading provider recognized by Forrester Wave (see end of post) and will now be able to identify and block more attacks.
Stop attacks, accelerate detection, and respond faster.
We are offering superior ransomware detection, malware detection, malicious behavior detection, memory threat detection, host isolation, and machine learning on an ongoing basis.
In addition, we will now be able to log and respond to security information and event management for any device that is managed by PremierePC. All of this is backed by the MITRE Att&ck framework and a team of security experts which help us reduce the noise and focus on issues that require our involvement.
Further, we are now able to integrate logs from 365, our firewalls, and our networking gear, to provide a near end-to-end logging service to help identify any risks, whether they originate in the cloud, on the network, or on the device.
Both services are being layered on to our clients at no additional cost.
PSL clients will have 7 days of log retention. PSC clients will have 30 days of log retention.
If you have compliance requirements that require log retention past that, let us know as we can offer modular retention options up to five years.
For the vast majority of clients, having this baseline will be superior to anything you had before and will assist us in favorably completing cyber liability insurance forms.
We are now able to integrate identity management from Azure / 365. We can prepare the ability to securely share resources whether you are in the office or not, effectively removing the VPN barrier. Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) enables fast secure and reliable connections to all your resources from everywhere.
SASE will be available on a per device basis for an additional cost. This is the equivalent of an always-on VPN, allowing us to extend your network, wherever you are, with no additional clunky software. This tech is going to help us reduce the reliance on firewalls and VPNs and enable you and your team to compute more reliably, more cost effectively, and more efficiently in the future.
With this end-user experience, we can link all employees to commonly used applications such as 365, the help desk, or other web services you and your team use.
No matter where you go, your resources are at your fingertips. (These can be seen by all or limited to certain users.)
COMING MONDAY, JUNE 19. TO A COMPUTER NEAR YOU.
A NEW CLIENT EXPERIENCE
Phase 1 – June 19
Phase 1 will introduce a new case logging method, where existing clients will be able to log in to the portal with their 365 / Google credentials. This will enable a smooth login process, no additional username / password is required. With this setup, all users may now view any of the cases they opened or were opened on behalf of them at any time, without having to wait for a PremierePC support reply.
In addition, we will be rolling out several new case template options to help you better focus on supplying the pertinent information we need to successfully resolve your matter more efficiently.
There will be two client portals during this first phase. ALL tickets created after June 19th will be in the new portal. LEGACY tickets created prior to June 19th will be in the existing portal, along with invoices, domains, products, services, and other non-ticket features.
We will be adding additional features every week and expanding what the platform can do. You can look forward to a more integrated process with a more robust live chat, and a more scrutinized level of service internally.
Phase 2 – TBD, 6+ months
Migration of all invoices and accounting functions.
OFFICE CLOSING: Memorial Day
Why do I get these ‘message review’ emails?!?!?!
The Problem: Email Spoofing
Email spoofing is the practice of forging a false email header to mislead the recipient into believing the email came from a different, trusted source.
This type of attack can be used to steal private information, which can then be used to further damage an organization.
Extortion, IP theft, and malware infection are just some of the risks a spoofing email attack can present. With so much on the line, a strong email security position is critical to corporate success.
This can occur by spoofing via display name, lookalike domains, impersonating key staff, and other methods.
Good mail in, bad mail out
Inbound filtering stops the junk and lets the good email through. Messages containing offensive, harmful, or policy violating content are held for user review, while good messages continue on their way.
Fully loaded message review
Many email users report that they receive a high amount of spam on a regular basis. And even worse, they don’t always know where their filtered messages go. Big problems can result from false-positive handling when a good message your email provider thinks is spam goes missing.
Get more accurate email filtering
Inbound email filtering handles messages more intelligently so there are less false-positives. When questionable messages are held, users get a notification that lets you preview, deliver the message, and whitelist the sender, so potentially important messages are no longer buried.
Improve quarantine visibility
Inbound Filter gives a big upgrade to standard email spam filtering, giving every user detailed visibility into what messages were held with insightful analytics and filtering statistics. Now it’s possible for email users to see easy to read and understand details about the security of a message, so you can be 100% sure it’s safe to release to their inbox.
Customizable notification schedule
Users get message review notifications at the interval that works for you. Whether you want them every hour, never, or anything in between… the choice is yours.
Preview content in a safe environment
Inbound Filter lets users preview the HTML content of a message (images optional) so you can determine whether or not it’s a message you wish to receive in your inbox without risking a malware infection or phishing attack.
Clear explanations of email scoring
Each message has an analytics section which shows data related to the reasons a message was held, where it came from, and even a map showing the point of geographic origin.
Message delivery timeline
There’s also a timeline section, so it’s clear to see the path of a message during it’s lifetime and quickly identify areas where delivery was delayed or interrupted.
Easy Access to Message Review Portal
Click the link in the most recent Message Review email to access the portal.
Navigate to emailservice.io and request a link for access.
Email Scoring
Scoring range = 0-600
Spam tolerance – aggressive 140 – 200
Promotions – 90
Advertisements, newsletters, and other types of marketing email that isn’t necessarily spam.
SPF soft fail – 70
Messages that came from an IP not designated by the SPF record for the sender domain. Messages with an SPF soft fail (“~all”) should be treated as spam or suspicious.
SPF hard fail – 70
Messages that came from an IP not designated by the SPF record for the sender domain. Messages with an SPF hard fail (“-all”) should be discarded.
From address SPF soft fail – 70
Messages that came from an IP not designated by the SPF record for the From address domain. Messages with an SPF soft fail (“~all”) should be treated as spam or suspicious.
From address SPF hard fail – 70
Messages that came from an IP not designated by the SPF record for the From address domain. Messages with an SPF hard fail (“-all”) should be discarded.
Reply-To address SPF soft fail – 70
Messages that came from an IP not designated by the SPF record for the Reply-To address domain. Messages with an SPF soft fail (“~all”) should be treated as spam or suspicious.
Reply-To address SPF hard fail – 70
Messages that came from an IP not designated by the SPF record for the Reply-To address domain. Messages with an SPF hard fail (“-all”) should be discarded.
Multiple From/Reply To addresses – 100
Messages that come from a different addresses in the From or Reply-To headers. This is a common attribute for phishing messages but is also common to newsletters and other bulk mailings. Use with caution as it may cause some false positives.
DKIM Signature Failed Verification – 200
Messages that contain a DKIM signature that failed verification. DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) is an email authentication protocol designed to prevent message modification in transit, a method often used in phishing and email scams. This result indicates that the message signature is either spoofed or the message has been modified in transit.
Attachment with a macro – 400
Messages that contain a Microsoft Office file with a macro. Macros are a powerful way to automate common tasks in Microsoft Office and can make people more productive. However, macro malware uses this functionality to infect your device.
Potentially Unwanted Applications – 600
Messages that contain an attachment that is a Potentially Unwanted Application (PUA). Potentially unwanted applications are a category of software that can cause your machine to run slowly, display unexpected ads, or at worst, install other software which might be unexpected or unwanted. Potentially unwanted applications are not considered viruses, malware, or other types of threats, but they might perform actions on endpoints which adversely affect endpoint performance or use.
Encrypted Zip File – 600
Messages that contain an encrypted archive file (zip or rar). Encrypting an archive file can be used to avoid detection of a threatening file contained in the archive.
Encrypted PDF File – 400
Messages that contain an encrypted PDF. Encrypting a PDF file can be used to avoid detection of a threat.
In addition, we added Foreign/Uncommon Top-Level Domain rules.