This week I did an interesting data recovery task for a family. (This was a legal data access. The identities were verified). They were trying to put together a notification list for an upcoming funeral. They could tell the contacts in the person’s laptop were incomplete because names they knew should be there were missing. And the person’s Android phone, with Google Contacts, won’t directly sync to the email app on the laptop. They could go through the phone contacts one at a time, but, was there an easier way?

Yes, there is.

In this case, it was an Android phone. Refer to the picture.

You can export the Google Contacts to a single .vcf file (vcf is an abbreviation of an abbreviation. It stands for vCard File, and vCard is short for Virtual (Business) Card).

People sometimes think that a .vcf file is a single contact, but a .vcf file can contain multiple contact records. It can be quite large and contain hundreds, even thousands, of contacts.

You can view some of the information with any text editor like Notepad. To easily view all of the information, import the .vcf file into a new or existing address book in an email program.

SUMMARY
For this client, the solution was to export the contacts as a .vcf file from the phone, import the .vcf file into the contacts in the computer, and merge duplicates. Now they have a relatively complete list of contacts in one place, and they can manage announcements and invitations using a full-size keyboard.

The client is in another state. A family member did the steps while I coached them over the phone.

#CallMeIfYouNeedMe #FIFONetworks

#TechSupport #RemoteSupport #HelpDesk

Cybersecurity - Networks - Wireless – Telecom – VoIP

“If You Used an Android Mobile Device to Access the Internet Through a Cellular Network at Any Time from November 12, 2017 to the Present, . . . You Could Get Money from a $135 Million Settlement.”

“The Plaintiffs allege that Google’s Android operating system causes Android mobile devices to transfer a variety of information to Google without users’ permission, consuming users’ cellular data from their cellular data plans. Plaintiffs allege that certain transfers occur in the background, without any notice to the user, including when the devices are in a completely idle state, meaning they are not in use or being touched, with all apps closed. Plaintiffs allege that even though Google could make it so that these transfers happen only when the devices are connected to Wi-Fi, Google instead causes these transfers to sometimes take place over a cellular network. Plaintiffs allege that Google’s unauthorized use of their cellular data violates the law...”

Google got in legal trouble for an activity that violated the Software Developer’s Code of Ethics that I published on August 28, 2016 (available on the FIFO Networks website). Turns out, their action was not just immoral, it may also be illegal. Of course, they denied doing anything wrong.

#CallMeIfYouNeedMe #FIFONetworks

Cybersecurity - Networks - Wireless – Telecom – VoIP

A company just asked for a brief statement of qualifications for a project with disaster recovery planning and a new off-prem backup system. I don't spend a lot of time creating slick marketing pieces. I answer the questions. This is what I sent:
------------
<name redacted>,

Thank you so much for inquiring about my services for Disaster Recovery planning and off-premise data backup system design. You asked for a brief summary of my experience and qualifications for the project.

• Formerly I was the Technical Director of two companies where I designed and built nationwide (USA) satellite-controlled communications systems. One of those companies had over 50,000 subscribers, and the other company had just under 100,000 subscribers. I designed, built, and managed the system with redundancy to achieve “five 9s” reliability, which means no more than about 5 minutes of downtime per year.
• Next, I was Director of National System Development for Cellular One, where we also had a demonstrated interest in maintaining reliable systems in adverse weather conditions with minimal downtime, and no loss of data.
• I taught cellular systems, information technology, and cybersecurity classes at three colleges for a total of 17 years.
• I still teach cybersecurity and information technology under private contract with public utilities. For example, most recently I taught a cybersecurity class to the engineers at <company name redacted>. This July, I’ll be teaching a week-long class in Windows Server Management.
• I have helped companies develop their Disaster Recovery and Incident Response plans in accordance with US laws in various industries, including construction companies and accounting firms.

Thank you again for your inquiry.
---------------

The value of this simple approach is this: I don't chase clients. I work with clients who want me. From long experience, I can tell you that this simple approach saves you so much grief. It makes your work fun.

#CallMeIfYouNeedMe #FIFONetworks

Cybersecurity - Networks - Wireless – Telecom – VoIP

Last Thursday I was doing a remote tech support call for an elderly gentleman and his wife in Macon, Georgia (I’m in Seattle). He said, “The printer is in another room, and I want to check the status to see if my document is done printing. It takes a lot of steps. Is there an easy way to see when the printer is done?”

SOLUTION
I put a shortcut to the printer queue on his Windows desktop, which was actually on a laptop. They both liked it, so I put another shortcut on the desktop of her laptop.

HOW TO DO IT
If you’d like a shortcut to open your printer queue, here are the steps. If you have more than one printer, you can make one for each of them.

Step 1: In Printer Properties, copy the name of your printer.

Step 2: On the desktop, Right-Click - New - Shortcut.

Step 3: Where it says, "Type the location of the item," write:
C:\Windows\System32\rundll32.exe printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /o /n "YourPrinterName"
Between the quote marks, replace YourPrinterName with the name of your printer, found in Step 1.

Example:
C:\Windows\System32\rundll32.exe printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /o /n "WF-2930 Series(Network)"

Step 4: Give the shortcut a name and save it.

Step 5: While something is printing, double-click the icon to see the current document queue and status.

#CallMeIfYouNeedMe #FIFONetworks

#TechSupport #RemoteSupport #HelpDesk

Cybersecurity - Networks - Wireless – Telecom – VoIP

This mini-PC (in the yellow circle) was shipped to me from Texas. The owner, a man who lived alone, suffered a major medical event and will never be able to use it again. The person with Power of Attorney sent it to me to crack. I recovered email, a rather insecure password list, information on all utility bills, where banking is done, and so forth. Now the family can proceed with handling the person’s financial affairs.

The mini-PC is even easier to ship than a laptop, because it doesn’t have any lithium battery inside. It uses an external AC adapter.

#CallMeIfYouNeedMe #FIFONetworks

Cybersecurity - Networks - Wireless – Telecom – VoIP

It’s time for company’s to change this website notice to, “You may need to download an application to view PDF documents.”

The Portable Document Format (PDF) was originally a proprietary format, but it has been an open standard for many years now.

I sign Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) with several of my clients. Adobe’s constant pressure to incorporate their automatic cloud storage and artificial intelligence analysis of documents that are read, created, or edited with their software make their products not just a security risk, but a legal risk.

I canceled my Adobe subscription and uninstalled all of their products from every computer I use for work-related tasks. (Full disclosure: my wife still has her Adobe subscription and has no interest in changing products).

Opening a PDF file in a web browser is also a security risk if you have an NDA, since many web browser providers are analyzing displayed content. If you have security obligations to your clients, I recommend disabling the viewing of PDF files in the browser, or, better yet, use a less invasive browser for work-related tasks.

I’m not making any recommendations in this post (or in the comments) for PDF viewers or browsers, because that would create the impression that this is a sales pitch. If anyone recommends something in the comments, that’s fine, just understand that I’m not making an endorsement here.

But back to the original point, in my opening sentence: unless Adobe is paying you to recommend their product on your website, you should drop the reference to Adobe in your PDF notice. It’s an open standard, and recommending a particular product when it’s not a requirement is misleading at best.

#CallMeIfYouNeedMe #FIFONetworks

Cybersecurity - Networks - Wireless – Telecom – VoIP

Instead of using fear as a tactic to sell cybersecurity services, I find people who are already concerned about their risk, and offer them calm confidence in exchange for money.

#CallMeIfYouNeedMe #FIFONetworks

Cybersecurity - Networks - Wireless – Telecom – VoIP

There’s a lot of misleading advertising about residential (consumer grade) VPNs. The purpose of this post is to clarify the difference between IP Masking and Virtual Private Networks.

WHAT IS A VPN?
From the official IETF documentation:
RFC 4026, Paragraph 3.10. Virtual Private Network (VPN)
“VPN is a generic term that covers the use of public or private networks to create groups of users that are separated from other network users and that may communicate among them as if they were on a private network. It is possible to enhance the level of separation (e.g., by end-to-end encryption), but this is outside the scope of IETF VPN working group charters.”

What does that mean in non-technical terms? It has two parts:
1) A VPN is a private link between two endpoints connected to each other over a network that is also used by others.
2) The private link may be encrypted (and often is), but that’s not a requirement to be classified as a VPN. (For those who are trying to wrap their head around the idea of an unencrypted VPN, I’ll give one example without going into any technical explanation: an unencrypted GRE tunnel is a VPN).

WHAT IS IP MASKING?
Refer to the middle picture. IP masking is when you use a relay service to hide the source IP address, or the destination IP address, from interested third parties.

WHAT’S MISLEADING?
Refer to the bottom picture. You don’t need to pay for a VPN service to do safe online purchasing or banking. Every time you see the padlock in your browser, or the “https” prefix on the address, you’re using an encrypted VPN connection.

THE LESSON
Next time you see an ad for residential VPN service, pay attention to the wording. What are they really trying to sell? The privacy of the VPN is automatic with https. All they’re really offering is IP masking. Do you need it? (Some people really do).

#CallMeIfYouNeedMe #FIFONetworks

Cybersecurity - Networks - Wireless – Telecom – VoIP

The client's firewall was blocking VPN attacks from IP addresses in the USA. Randomized timer with attempts anywhere from 2 seconds to 15 minutes apart. Brute force attack using first initial, last name. In the lower left corner, 19:47:05 is the last entry before I blocked the entire Class B address range.

#CallMeIfYouNeedMe #FIFONetworks #cybersecurity

Cybersecurity - Networks - Wireless – Telecom – VoIP

There are two laptops in my backpack on this trip: my regular laptop, and my air gapped laptop. The air gapped laptop is for work I do for clients when I have an NDA.

Carrying the extra weight became necessary when AI products started analyzing everything: emails, schedules, Word documents, spreadsheets, PDF files - even the simple Notepad app is now infected with spyware.

I'm now getting NDAs from clients that have specific requirements to not expose their information to AI.

On this trip I spent some time engineering a new network. When I finish the design back in my office, I'll send it to the client using encryption on a secure channel.

(Photo: my backpack keeping me company during lunch at TGI Fridays in DFW Terminal E.)

#CallMeIfYouNeedMe #FIFONetworks +1 206-465-2422

Cybersecurity - Networks - Wireless – Telecom – VoIP