Blog
Are Digital Assistants The Future Of Business?
If you use Microsoft products, you’ve no doubt made at least some use of Cortana, the company’s digital assistant function. If you’re in the Apple camp, then Siri has become an increasingly important part of your life. These digital assistants began as small components of a much larger ecosystem, and in their earliest iterations, were […]
Update Your iPhone To Reduce Your Risk Of Attack
Smartphones rule the world. Even a few years ago, a statement like that would seem silly, but today, silly has become fact. There are more smartphones in active service today than there are human beings living on planet earth, and we use them for just about everything. People watch videos, stream music, do work, play […]
Thieves Are Buying And Selling Your Information On The Dark Web
Have you been hacked? Has your personal information been compromised? If so, what are you worth? What’s your information selling for? If you’re curious, take a trip to the Dark Web to find out. The Dark Web is the “underground” internet. All of the servers are hidden and encrypted. The only way to access them […]
New Security Exploit Threatens Windows Machines
Have you heard of Hot Potato? It’s the latest security exploit that Windows-based machines are vulnerable to. Note that this doesn’t target a particular version of Windows, but rather, spans everything from Windows 7, forward to Windows Server 2012. The exploits take advantage of hooks and weaknesses built into the core of the OS itself, […]
Meet Locky, Your New Worst Nightmare
Ransomware is shaping up to be the most significant threat from the hacker community in 2016. Over the last few days, Locky, a new piece of malware has been spreading like a wildfire across the Internet. The problem began February 16, when Locky was sent to 400,000 unlucky potential victims. In its first form, it […]
Microsoft Recalls Surface Pro Power Adapters
Do you own a Surface Pro, Surface Pro 2, or Surface Pro 3? If so, and if you made your purchase before March, 2015, you should know that Microsoft has just issued a recall for the AC power cords for those devices. According to a spokesman for the company, the recall was issued because over […]
Lost Hard Drives Contain Info On A Million Patients
A health insurer based in St. Louis, called Centene, has “misplaced” six hard drives. Normally that would not be a big deal, but these particular hard drives happened to contain the personal data of around a million patients. The missing data includes patient names, addresses, birthdays, and social security numbers, but thankfully, not payment information. […]
If You’re Using Any Of These Passwords, Stop
Since 2011, a company called SplashDash has posted a “Worst Password List” based on data mined from hacks and data breaches. What’s remarkable about the annual list is how little it changes from one year to the next. In the age of weekly, high profile hacks, in the age of rampant identity theft, one would […]
New Service Automatically Replenishes Items for You
For many months, Amazon has been planning to take the retail game to the next level. Their ambitious plan first became visible with the inclusion of mysterious “Dash Buttons” on various classes of products. Mysterious, because at least until now, those buttons didn’t actually do anything. Clicking on them would get you absolutely nothing. Quietly, […]
How To Ensure That Your Business Email Is Secure
As almost everyone is aware, Email was the first “killer app.” It very quickly went from being an expensive, idle curiosity, where users had to buy digital stamps in order to send each and every email, to something so ubiquitous that on average, people have 3 email addresses, even if they don’t regularly use them. […]
A Visionary Approach to Your Security
The purpose of an IT partner isn’t just to fix something when it is broken, it is to keep your people working and your data secure. Astral moves beyond traditional managed services by addressing all the key areas of cybersecurity in today’s complex landscape.
