The Little Geeni

CLAREMONT, NC –JUNE 18th, 2008—Paul Slager is Network Administrator for the Midwest Palliative and Hospice CareCenter, a nonprofit healthcare organization focusing on hospice and palliative care located in Glenview, Illinois. Slager has managed the organization’s 500 workstations and 30-plus Microsoft servers since early 2006.

 

As a healthcare organization, patient record confidentiality is essential to remain in compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, so network security is a top priority for Slager.

 

“A key factor for me is that there is no tradeoff of usability for security,” Slager said. “I have to make sure that our users have access to all their applications and devices in a secure manner without the security getting in the way of their productivity. And of course I also have to make sure we keep out viruses and maintain perimeter security.”

 

When Slager arrived on the scene, the hospice care center was using Symantec as its primary security solution. However, he quickly became frustrated with the load the system was placing on users’ workstations and the relatively weak management functions.

 

“The main factors in our decision to seek an alternative solution were the shortcomings of the management functions,” Slager said. “We also couldn’t help noticing that Symantec was taking up a lot of processing power on each user’s computer.”

 

So, high on Slager’s wishlist were ease of management, small footprint on client systems, and of course a good track record in keeping sensitive files secure and malware out.

 

AVG Anti-Virus: The Right Solution

“I’d heard from several sources that AVG Anti-Virus software was a solution worth looking at, and so it was one of the first alternative solutions I tested to see if it would fit our needs,” Slager said. “I focused heavily on the administrative console because that was one of the most important factors for me. With more than 500 workstations, it is imperative that I have a way to make sure each computer is secure without having to physically visit each one on campus.”

 

After ensuring that AVG’s management functionality and protection would meet the organization’s requirements, the low price point was what sealed the deal. MidWest’s IT director, responsible for sourcing and purchasing, quickly found Walling Data Systems and their non-profit discount program.

 

Walling Data Systems is the country’s longest-standing distributor of AVG Technologies solutions and the company’s highest-volume distributor in North America. Walling specializes in the education and nonprofit sectors, and is the only distributor to offer all customers free, unlimited, U.S.-based support as part of every sale.

 

Slager said that, as with any new solution, there were a few teething problems, so he called the support team at Walling Data for advice.

 

“There were a few aspects of the software that I wasn’t quite sure how to configure,” Slager remembered. “So I called Walling’s helpdesk team, who remotely connected to our server so we could easily discuss what to do. It was simple and easy, and I was able to get the system up and running in no time.”

 

What Slager loves most about AVG is that it basically manages itself. With the benefit of this “hands free” system administration, he has more time to spend on productive IT pursuits, rather than problem-solving.

 

“AVG has been great, and very easy to manage,” Slager said. “I would definitely recommend it, and Walling Data to others”

 

 

About Walling Data Systems

Founded in 1994, in North Carolina, Walling Data Systems is a value-added software distributor offering innovative high-value solutions to everyday computer security problems for corporate, education, and home technology users. Walling Data was named an Authorized AVG Distributor in 2004 and is the only source for unlimited toll free phone, remote support, education discounts, and more for their AVG customers in the United States, one reason why thousands of education customers choose Walling as their supplier of choice for AVG products.

 

About AVG

Founded in 1991 in the Czech Republic and with offices in the US and Europe, AVG is a leading international developer of Internet threat protection solutions for consumers and SMBs. AVG is one of the fastest growing companies in the industry with more than 70 million active users around the world. The company employs some of the world’s leading experts in Internet security, specifically in the areas of threat research, analysis and detection. AVG’s award-winning products are distributed globally through resellers and over the Internet as well as via third parties through Software Developer’s Kits (SDK).

Media Contacts:

Ashlie Lanning 919-557-7890 alanning@wallingdatasystems.com

Luke Walling 828-459-5422 x225 luke@wallingdatasystems.com

Computer Security Antivirus, Carecenter, Entrusts, Hospice, Midwest, Network, Palliative, Security

Why Computers and Networks?

Computers have become a necessity for all types of working environment. No matter what type of work you are doing, computers can help you in maximizing your work efficiency. Due to this fact computers are being used in all types of offices. Some areas like banking, insurance, stock exchange as well as reservation systems completely rely on use of Computers and Internet.

In a computing environment people need inter connectivity of computers to share resources like (files and data). It further helps in use and management of information collected through various nodes. These kinds of network that is being implemented in a particular organization are known as Intranets. Intranet helps in information sharing between different offices of same organization at different locations. It works on LAN (Local Area Network), MAN (Metropolitan Area Network) or WAN (Wide Area Network). There are mainly three ways of implementing different type of networks – wired, wireless or mixed (wired and wireless both as and when required).

Why Internet?

Internet is information superhighway, one of the major and accurate sources of getting information on any topic quickly. It is also used as backbone for implementing Intranet. Company’s websites and email are completely dependent on Internet. In brief, internet is the most important and fastest medium of communication in current hi-tech world.

Network Related Problems

As an end user you must have experienced various types of problems in your network during your work. Due to network downtime organizations have to bear loss of several productive working hours or in turn loss of revenue. Network downtime for your web servers may result unavailability of your website, in that case your potential viewers may not find required information through your website. It may create a negative impact of your company/organization or business

To deal with such problems immediately organizations need network diagnosis and maintenance experts to fix such problems to further reduce loss of productive working hours. However, it is not possible for every organization to hire a fulltime team of networking experts to solve their network issues. They prefer to rely upon network security consultants, who help them whenever needed. It’s a cost-effective alternative for organizations because they don’t have to hire full time professionals for taking care of their network troubleshooting needs.

Computer Security Maintenance, Need, Network, Security

There are a lot of reasons your organization needs to conduct vulnerability testing. It can be done to perform a checkup of your overall web security system. If there are a number of servers in your organization then the vulnerability assessment is a must. First of all you need to decide which applications are to be assessed, and why. It can be a part of your PCI audit requirements, or a step to check the web security of an application that is to be deployed.

After figuring out the scope, you need to make a priority list of the applications that are to be assessed. If you have to access a single application, the decision is easy. But if you have to assess a number of applications, it’s always useful to make a list.

Once you have prepared the list, you can go ahead and start conducting the web security of your crucial applications. For instance, start with applications that conduct the most transactions and work down from there. Or start with all applications that are related process and store sales transactions.

All those applications that are accessible by the Internet or any host, require vulnerability assessment. You can’t always assume that the application is secure because it is being hosted by a third-party. Any web security loopholes can lead an attacker directly to your most crucial network segments and applications.

It is important for every organization to take a systematic and proactive approach towards its web security, and to run a web application vulnerability test to secure and defend systems against potential threats and attacks. Web-based attacks can cause a fall in revenue and theft of customers’ secret financial information. It is always advisable to take help of Network Security testing providers, in order to defend the security system. Iviz Security is a leading provider of vulnerability testing services.

Computer Security Network, Required, Security, Strengthen, System, Testing, Vulnerability

So in my first post on Network Security/Hacking i have told you how to use angryip scanner to find out live computers on your network…..sorry to say this but most of the internet users out there are not concern with their network security and they connect to the internet without using a Firewall, and most of them share a folder with important files…..

There are many software based firewalls like Zone Alarm which sit on your PC between your OS and Internet and wheneven some program tries to access the internet they will pop-up a window asking you weather you want to allow the program or not….if you dont have the knowledge about that program you can always google.com to find what the program is….and then you can allow/block them…sounds simple right but it provides the best protection….

Sharing of folders….this is something which is the killer in the cable internet networks….even if you dont have any folders shared but you have File Printing and Sharing enabled you are vunerable to all the Network Virus which spread through network..If you have a cable internet connection remember to remove File Printing and Sharing from Network Connections. Its a service and you dont need it to access the internet….

Angryip scanner result window would display all the live hosts and you can right click a live host and select browse to browse the shared folders….

 Another basic mistake people do is they would allow unwanted services enable…for example telnet….have you used telnet before…..most of you would answer no…its a service through which you can remotely connect to a PC and execute commands….by default it comes with a blank password….so you can simply right click the live hosts and select Telnet…if the service is enabled you are in his system and you can use any dos command you have learnt as part of your Basic Computer skills….delete all system files to make his system useless…thats the worst thing to do….

 Keep comming back for more….and please post your suggestions and comments…….

Computer Security Contd…, Network, Security/Hacking