Paradigm Consulting Company

Blog

Notes on security and IT for small businesses.

  1. Hardware Review: Astaro Security Gateway ASG110/120

    The Astaro Security Gateway is a product we have been using for a few years with various clients as a UTM (Unified Threat Management) device. It offers a number of features that they require, including network security, email security, and web surfing security.

  2. Reasons to Keep Your Hardware Current

    Too often, we come across clients whose systems are out-dated. A general rule of thumb that we try to follow is replacing desktop systems every 3 years, servers every 5 years. These are general rules, and they don't always apply.

  3. Likewise + Ubuntu offers a Quick, Cheap, Easy, Secure Email, Web Browsing, Word Processing Solution

    Readers of my personal blog or listeners to the Fresh Ubuntu Podcast will know that I have long been a proponent of Linux as an alternative to Windows, and now, more than ever, this should be a reality at your organization. What's changed?

  4. Small Businesses Losing Millions to European Cyber-Gangs

    This week, the Washingon Post reported a fascinating story on how "organized cyber-gangs in Eastern Europe are increasingly preying on small and mid-size companies in the United States.

  5. FairPoint Accused of Falsfying Readiness Tests

    This article broke yesterday, in which an alleged whistleblower claims that FairPoint falsified the tests that showed its readiness to take over Verizon's New England landlines.

  6. AT&T: We Don't Want Your Business

    This week, at a client's request, I am reviewing their entire telecommunications spending. I decided to look at four different vendors to compare their offerings. The first one I looked at was AT&T, to see if they had a comparable long distance package.

  7. Software Review: Moneydance (Including a Rant Against Quicken)

    I recently started the process of converting my personal finances from Quicken to Moneydance. I have been using Quicken for at least ten years, not because I like the program, it's just that it's "what I've always used.

  8. Software Review: Rubber Ducky System Monitor

    Today I am reviewing a tiny, free, handy piece of software for end-users: Rubber Ducky System Monitor by MimarSinan International.

  9. How do Web Content Filters Work?

    We sometimes get support requests from frustrated clients who are in some way prevented from accomplishing a task because of system security policies. Unfortunately, they sometimes think that we have done this deliberately to make their job difficult.

  10. "XYZ Technology is Dead."

    I frequently hear security professionals and pundits proclaim that such and such a technology "is dead." Lately, I've heard that "antivirus is dead," "Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS) are dead." A while back it was "firewalls are dead," and "SSL is dead.