Last February February 27th, TRINUS volunteered to prepare and serve Dinner for families staying at the Ronald McDonald House Charities Northern Alberta, in Edmonton.
March 15, 2019
We were honoured to be part of a special event that we held at our office in January with Make-A-Wish and Logan. We decided to record the event and put together a little video.
January 23, 2019
Besides some Accountant friends, I can't think of anyone who enjoys the process of completing the annual reconciliation of incomes and expenses - and forwarding the inevitable payment to the government. The grumbling is universal.
March 14, 2019
Having a Windows Update server is great for managing the updates to your operating system. It even allows for a certain level of control, when it comes to Windows 10 Updates. It's all the other 3rd party software that can't be forgotten about. Having a similar system in place to manage updates to all that different software, will help reduce the amount of work that goes into keeping your corporate network protected.
February 25, 2019
One of my (many) pet peeves is how I am made to endure bureaucratic processes that are excused away as being for my benefit. Airport Security lines, renewing my Driver's License, and completing lengthy application forms come to mind (I recently applied for government pension benefits.)
February 23, 2019
This year, LG - known for their appliances and TVs - devoted several hundred square feet of their costly display to an integrated home environment, complete with 2 millennials pretending to do common household tasks.
February 06, 2019
Something that people may not be aware of is that if you accept plastic as a form of payment, there are certain rules you need to follow. These rules are called "Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards" (PCI-DSS for short.)
February 04, 2019
CES had thousands of Smart-controllable devices; one for every conceivable home or business function. I'll entice you with more examples in future articles, but for now let's stick with the Smart Pet Home.
January 18, 2019
I delayed sending an article this week, so that I could report on some of the magic from the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. With thousands of Vendors and over 175,000 Attendees, this is one big Tech Party.
January 12, 2019
It's important for any organization to get a proper level of Insurance to cover their potential losses. Some Insurance companies post information about what sorts of things you can do, in order to reduce your premiums.
January 10, 2019
Unfortunate, isolated, human error, optimize processes - these are corporate press-release terms designed to calm the fears that many of us would have, given the nature of the Data Breach. But the cold reality is that devices such as Alexa, Echo, and Google Home ARE recording conversations in your home - all of them.
January 06, 2019
The assumption in the design of a Printer is that the environment they are being placed in, is perfectly secure. In case you were wondering, it isn't.
December 20, 2018
AI also conjures up images of Robots from Sci-Fi movies; R2D2 and C3PO are the obvious ones. Somewhat darker is the iRobot movie, and all the way to the dark side, is the Terminator series.
December 19, 2018
Today I need to talk about something. Something near and dear to all our hearts. A most horrible event has occurred. It's so terrible, it pains me to even speak of it. But I MUST!
December 14, 2018
We have this notion that hackers are all-knowing and powerful; the image of a Geeky Evil Emperor comes to mind for many people. With a wave of their programming hand, they wreak havoc on unsuspecting millions. Not so! They're as lazy and disorganized as the rest of us, maybe more so.
December 13, 2018
It seems that Data Breaches are happening more and more often. These days when I go through the news it's hard for a week to go by without someone reporting they've lost data.
December 06, 2018
I can't begin to imagine how massive some of the Microsoft Server Farms are. They must have acres and acres of servers humming away to handle all of the demands for Services and Data Storage. Windows, Office 365, Azure Cloud Hosting, Exchange Online; it must be a colossal undertaking.
November 28, 2018
Often, USB sticks are treated as something that a company can purchase and forget about. They're so cheap, it's hardly worth the effort to keep track of them (less then $10.00 each, depending on the size.)
November 21, 2018
This is part 10 of a 9-part series that will look at selected areas of interest to Municipalities, pertaining to IT Budget Planning; we added a final article in the series - and I am going to try and bring it all together in one comprehensive Budget.
November 15, 2018
Two weeks ago, I wrote that Lenovo were moving aggressively into the Internet of Things (IoT) arena, with the release of new products designed for smart automation of the home. It's also expected that many more products will be released in the near future. With Lenovo entering this market, it adds legitimacy and clout;
November 14, 2018
Having good, solid passwords that are changed on a regular basis and supported by a robust Password Policy, will not prevent you from ever being hacked. However, it is a simple and easy step in the right direction that will make it a lot less likely that you will get compromised.
November 06, 2018
Good news everybody! Just for a change, I figured I'd stop with all the doom and gloom. Today I'll be giving people a bit of actual, real good news. Someone, somewhere finally figured out that WIFI needs version numbers, rather than the abbreviations it's had up till now.
October 29, 2018
I find it's always good to start off a Newsletter by asking a question. This helps focus peoples' attention, as well as my own writing. It gives the Newsletter an immediate sense of direction.
October 22, 2018
Some of us with more grey hairs and less hair in general will remember the Friendly Giant. It was a TV program for young Preschoolers. The adult was dressed in a ridiculous Giant costume and dominated his environment of small puppets; Rusty the Rooster, Jerome the Giraffe, and a few others that escape my memory.
October 19, 2018
This article will explore the services that Municipalities will need, in order to keep their IT systems running correctly; both Managed Services and Break-Fix. The terms can be misleading, so we'll define them for our purposes:
October 19, 2018
In previous articles from this series, we've touched on Subscriptions and related Services for various software components, so some of this will be reviewed. But we will look more closely at some options, and why they are critical to your overall IT Budget Plan.
October 12, 2018
Karl Buckley, our Cyber Security Supervisor, recently wrote a very interesting article about the Cultural Phenomenon that is Social Networking and the Official Company Policies (or actually, the almost total lack thereof) governing Social Media.
October 10, 2018
The topic of Workstations and Laptops for Municipal Budget Planning should be straight-forward, and for the most, it is. But there are a few wrinkles that need to be considered, when making them go the distance of 5 years. For our purposes, we're going to use the term Workstation to mean a Desktop Computer; be it desktop, tower or compact-case design.
October 04, 2018
Karl Buckley - our Cyber Security Supervisor - wrote an interesting article on Network Segregation that I thought I would share with you. It speaks about the separation needed between parts of your network, to enhance Security.
October 04, 2018
Firewalls, switches and WiFi are three critical elements of any corporate network, but their functions are rarely understood. So, to help understand, allow me to provide a simple (albeit strange) analogy:
September 28, 2018
It's reported that the town's IT systems were "dark" for 48 hours - in other words, unusable. As of September 10th, systems were still not restored to normal and "negotiations with the Hackers were ongoing.”
September 26, 2018
We've arrived! After more than three months, I have just moved into our newly-renovated offices. At the beginning of May we started our Renovation project and - as my office was gutted to make way for the new layout, I was forced to work from my home office.
September 21, 2018
Servers - every Municipality has them; in some cases 15 or 20 (or even more.) Most of them cost more than a new car and generate a lot of noise, heat and headaches. They never get to rest and hardly ever get cleaned. Most Users don't know and don't care what they do, except when they stop working, and then there's plenty of scorn heaped on them. Servers have a tough life!
September 19, 2018
Email is rapidly becoming one of the primary methods for Attackers to initially infiltrate an organization. They can send infected attachments, conduct Phishing campaigns to gain login credentials, and more. It's simple to use and doesn't require a lot of specialized or expensive resources to setup (like designing a piece of custom malware.)
September 19, 2018
Cyber Criminals are usually highly-educated members of organized crime or nation-states - at least that's the conventional wisdom. We rarely get a glimpse into the true workings of the Hacker-mill, as very few of them are caught - and even fewer ever come to justice.
September 13, 2018
If your Municipality hasn't been hit with Ransomware or some other system-crippling virus, chances are you know of a neighbouring Municipality that has. TRINUS has written almost weekly about the exploits of organized Cyber-Criminals. It's big business - reportedly estimated at $600 Billion annually, and so is the burgeoning fight against it.
September 13, 2018
Since their introduction into modern business environments, IT Systems have required maintenance to provide the functionality and performance they claim to have. They are incredibly complex systems that process hundreds of millions - sometimes billions - of pieces of information every day. Maintenance is usually divided into 2 segments; Hardware - ensuring the physical components are operating correctly, and Software - ensuring the operating instructions don't corrupt the processed data.
September 07, 2018
Well, it's Back to School for the kids this week. They aren't the only ones who need to keep on learning. The major reason I got into computers in the first place, was because there's always something new to find out. For anyone who pursues a career in computers, this is one of the major draws.
September 05, 2018
It seems we're starting at the end of the series, when we talk about Backups and Disaster Recovery. But of all of the possible topics, it's our experience that is the least understood and most ignored aspect of all IT areas. Most Municipalities are doing a LOUSY job of Backups and Disaster Recovery (BDR for our purposes.)
August 30, 2018
Technical Support scams often claim to be from Microsoft or Windows. This happens so often, that Microsoft has a website that you can use to report a Microsoft support scam.
August 30, 2018
We love to watch British dramas and the crime genre is among our favourites. Midsummer Murders follows the exploits of Inspector Barnaby and his colleagues, as they investigate murders in the quaint English countryside. It's a wonder they have any people left at the rate the writers kill people off.
August 29, 2018
This is part 1 of a 9-part series that will look at selected areas of interest to Municipalities, pertaining to IT Budget Planning. Please contact me if you would like copies of other articles.
August 24, 2018
There's a new attack targeting WiFi networks. Researchers found it by accident, while doing investigations into the new WPA3 Authentication Standard (published in January this year.) This is NOT a virus or malware, but rather a method through which a potential Hacker could gain access to Private and Public WiFi networks. From there, data could be stolen or corrupted by Ransomware or another virus.
August 21, 2018
No WiFi is better than poor WiFi. Like politics and the weather, there is always something to complain about with Public WiFi. It's slow, it drops out frequently, you can't connect, you don't know the password, you can't watch videos; the grumblings are almost endless. A lot of the criticism is justified, as much of the service is genuinely poor.
August 16, 2018
Google recently released an update for Chrome that marks all HTTP websites as being Unsecured. This is entirely accurate, as the information flowing between your computer and the server is unencrypted. This means someone could be in the middle, monitoring the traffic, and reading everything that's going on.
August 10, 2018
A good friend of ours recently gave me a small plaque intended for my new office. Made from heavy black cast iron, it displays Oh No, Not You Again. I'm not sure this is appropriate for someone who spends most of their day meeting and communicating with Clients. Most likely, I'll mount it on a desk-stand and bring it out on special occasions.
August 08, 2018
It should come as no surprise that I am a committed Star Wars fan. I remember watching the first Star Wars movie at a drive-in located in West Edmonton. The sound coming from the tin-cup speaker hung on the window frame was abysmal, but no one cared; in 1977 this was epic! Of course, Star Wars was the proverbial game-changer - and we all knew that Luke could never turn to the Dark Side.
August 01, 2018
Good, Fast, Cheap: Pick any Two - is a common business Axiom that's been around for ages. While you won't find this in any Business Administration textbooks, all Business Owners - and most Consumers know this pithy saying has its' roots in truth. You Get What You Pay For and There's No Free Lunch are Maxims centered around the same idea; there is a constant tension between quality, price, and speed-of-delivery for most - if not all products.
July 26, 2018
It was bound to happen sooner or later - the Cyber Criminals are now threatening public exposure of Ransomware data if the Ransom is not paid. Earlier this June, CarePartners - an Ontario-based Home-Care Medical Services provider was hit with a Ransomware Attack on it's server. This is nothing new; it happens thousands of times a day in many countries. What is new is the demand: pay up or risk having your Patient records exposed to the Public. This used to be the cry of a WikiLeaks Whistle Blower.
July 18, 2018
It is common for companies to set up Outside Access to their internal resources. Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) is a simple method that is commonly used, to allow employees to connect from home and abroad.
July 17, 2018
Data Breaches are a fairly common thing these days. Part of my own routine is to keep tabs on the news. A lot of what I watch for are high profile vulnerabilities and issues that may affect the TRINUS Customer base. At the same time, I look out for things that are less obvious, but may be of interest to our IT Support Technicians.
July 05, 2018
There has been a lot of SCAMMER news lately. The boldest was the report of a 58-year-old Vancouver woman who was arrested by FAKE RCMP officers and forced to withdraw $6,000 from her bank, in order to pay a fictitious Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) outstanding tax balance.
June 27, 2018
Of the roughly 500 Emails I send and receive each week, I see a significant number that could use some work. I'll be the first to admit that many of my own compositions would not stand up to careful scrutiny, but perhaps a few thoughts from a Technical and Business perspective would be in order.
June 25, 2018
Ah, the good old days. When you didn't have to worry about buying toys for your kids. Well the truth is... that was never true. Toy manufacturers have always been pushing the limits of what was acceptable.
June 20, 2018
My colleague Kevin and I just returned from a conference in Kananaskis, Alberta. For those who have not visited before, it's a stunning mountain resort area in the Rocky Mountains, southeast of Banff. The area was hit with severe flooding a few years ago and they have just re-opened the golf course. However, this was a working trip for us.
June 13, 2018
There's a new bit of Malware out there that you may have heard of: it's called VPNFilter. What it does is take over your router (and some NAS devices), in order to monitor your traffic and steal information (login credentials, etc.)
June 04, 2018
Cyber events - both good and bad - don't rest for anyone. The one that caught my eye recently was the story that broke about the unidentified couple in the US having their private conversation on hardwood floors sent to a person in their contact list by their Amazon Echo.
May 31, 2018
It's always better to make sure things are as simple as possible. What this means is that the less software and less hardware you use, the fewer ways there are for someone to attack you. By reducing the number of tools in your company, you reduce your "Attack Surface" and make it harder for someone to compromise your network.
May 30, 2018
Sometimes it has to do with self-driving cars or some Facebook method to police its' content. Every day there seems to be a new report saying something about AI.
May 25, 2018
Join us for this day filled with thrilling events reminiscent of good hometown family fun. This year's event will feature a variety of activities and entertainment for guests of all ages!
May 09, 2018
Chances are the Prince Edward Island government wasn't aware that the website had been compromised, until someone complained about it. Most methods of monitoring a website simply confirm that a URL is responding.
May 07, 2018
Not too long ago, our IT Cyber-Security Technician, Karl Buckley, wrote a Newsletter in which he contributed some advice on how to properly manage and deploy your Internet of Things (IoT) devices
April 26, 2018
The 2018 ABA Spring Luncheon featured Guest Speakers Stony Plain MLA Erin Babcock, Alberta Finance Minister Joe CeCi and Keynote speaker Herb Holmes.
April 23, 2018
It's always nice to receive feedback on our newsletters. It doesn't matter if it is good, bad, or indifferent. Any way you slice it, we're either getting information on something to improve, or something we're doing well. Obviously, we like to hear about how great we're doing, as who doesn't like to find out that they are performing a good job!?
April 18, 2018
TRINUS attended the LGAA (Local Government Administration Association of Alberta) Conference & Trade Show this week at the Sheraton Hotel in Red Deer.
April 06, 2018
Have you ever watched a TV show about Bunker People - the people who build underground bomb-proof survival shelters? Most of these shows are highly entertaining and are worth a few minutes of your time.
March 28, 2018
I remember growing up in a big house in Vancouver. Two stories plus a walk-out basement and lots of room for a young family grow up in. My Dad worked for TCA (now Air Canada) and in 1964 he was transferred to Edmonton to open a fledgling air-freight office.
March 21, 2018
I was speaking to our Retail Store Manager Mike Jettkant a few days ago. Mike has been managing the TRINUS Computer Center for a number of years. From the store, we service and support home users, home-based small businesses and selected small businesses in the Parkland County region;
March 15, 2018
TRINUS was the Gold Sponsor and IT Sponsor for the Annual Mayors’ Regional Address, Thursday, March 8th, at the Stony Plain Heritage Pavilion in Stony Plain.
March 09, 2018
As a small child growing up in the Vancouver area, I can remember our 2-story house. It had a large full-size walk-out basement with 2 storage rooms. Upstairs storage rooms were also full of our family treasures. Mom ran a tight ship; there wasn't a lot of clutter in the living areas - except in my room.
March 07, 2018
Something you may have heard of when it comes to computers and Security, is a Principle called "Least Privilege." It describes an approach to improving your Security.
When you think about it, there are really two possible approaches you can use, in order to limit the access that people may have to your system:
March 07, 2018
A fabulous time was enjoyed by Everyone who attended our grand Client Appreciation & Family Day Celebration last week. Thank you to every single one of our 300 Guests, who contributed their fun and laughter to such a happy occasion, and making it all worthwhile!!
February 26, 2018
TRINUS is pleased to announce our selection as a finalist for the 2018 Alberta Business Awards of Distinction in the Marketing category.
January 18, 2018
At TRINUS, our year-end is December 31st, so our Administration area is very busy in January; closing-off year-end files, starting new file folders, and lots of shredding.
February 23, 2018
Something that gets thrown around IT circles a bit is the concept of "Network Segregation.” From a Security standpoint, this idea is great; however from an administrative perspective, it does make the design of things more complicated.
February 22, 2018
You can join Linda & Team TRINUS, by signing-up to walk, volunteer, or donate and show your love to the hungry, homeless and hurting of Spruce Grove, Stony Plain and Parkland County!
February 22, 2018
There have recently been many articles released about how the Olympics have been hit with a Malware attack that brought down the network and disrupted communications:
February 16, 2018
I must say that our family enjoys our privacy; we don't Tweet, Facebook, FaceTime, Instagram, or Pinterest - at least we try not to. Email and Text are about as adventurous as we get, and we don't like intruding telemarketers calling at supper time.
February 09, 2018
Have you ever gotten a scam phone call? Sure you have; everyone has. There are so many different kinds of phone scams! Is there anything at all you can do to try and protect yourself? Yes there is, actually. Not surprisingly, a lot of it boils down to awareness.
February 05, 2018
Last week, I wrote about some of the advantages and disadvantages to Smart devices that were shown at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show (CES.) From Smart socks and underwear to Smart toilets and showers, there was something for everyone. This time, I want to focus on some ways you can mitigate the risk associated with these devices, as they come into your home and offices. But, before I do, one last product tidbit from CES:
February 02, 2018
Last week, I wrote about some of the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Show-stoppers and Duds. We saw an explosion of Smart devices for personal and home use. I promised this week to explore some of the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of these devices. But first, one more bizarre Smart device.
January 26, 2018
Intel released an Advisory, telling people not to install the current patches for Meltdown & Specter.
January 24, 2018
Each year, we have a small contingent that attends the Consumer Electronics Show ( CES) in Las Vegas. It's a 4-day event, with over 4,000 vendors and upwards of 175,000 attendees; by far the world's biggest showcase for all things related to consumer electronics. The show encompasses over 2.6 million square feet of display space. If you don't stop to talk with many vendors, you can walk the entire show in 4 days. With all of these participants, the event is anything but stress-free.
January 18, 2018
A new vulnerability has been discovered by a team of researchers that affect ALL servers, computers and devices that use Intel processors (CPUs). It affects server systems that are cloud based. The vulnerability is common to all CPUs ...
January 05, 2018
Cyber-squatting is something many people may not be aware of. It's when someone goes and purchases a vacant domain name. They can then setup their own website or even try to sell it back to the original owners (if someone let their domain name rental lapse).
January 03, 2018
I can remember the days when the average office cubical had the following technology: desk phone and a calculator. Managers had a multi-line phone and a calculator with a paper tape.
December 20, 2017
Weak encryption is being used all around you. So much so that security researchers have recently pointed light to this. Following suit, Public Safety Canada has issued a warning about RSA encryption.
December 15, 2017
As promised, here is Part 2 of our tips for safe browsing and online shopping this holiday season.
December 13, 2017
OK, ok; I have succumbed! I started playing Christmas music on the car radio and even programmed the home audio system to play my wife's favourite Christmas channels.
December 06, 2017
Ah… the Internet of Things, or IoT for short. There are many things you can talk to Cyber-Security professionals about that will make their blood pressure rise, and this is one of them.
December 04, 2017
I mentioned that it would likely be a very long time before the EQUIFAX Breach really went to bed. Well, here's a situation update on something that most likely got a lot of traction, thanks to that occurrence.
November 27, 2017
The other day I saw a news article about a school in Red Deer, Alberta, that got shut down for a little while by an "Online Threat" made via Social Media.
November 24, 2017
The Stony Plain & District Chamber of Commerce held their annual Business Awards Gala at the local Best Western Hotel, on November 4th
November 17, 2017
Much to my wife's chagrin, I do like to drive nice vehicles. Her encouragement to drive more sensible cars falls on deaf ears. I am currently in my English phase, which usually means more cost and more difficult repairs.
October 31, 2017
I was searching around for a suitable topic for this week's newsletter when our Cyber Security Supervisor Karl Buckley forwarded a timely article to me that he wrote about Online Shopping.
October 20, 2017
The role of IT in your organization is not just to help make sure your computers are up & running. Making sure your devices are secure, is an important job for them too.
October 20, 2017
One of our techs went on a lengthy road trip last week. It took him just over 10 hours to drive to the Client's location with a van-full of tech gear; essentially a complete network. He worked for two days and then drove home. He was gone the better part of a week. Thankfully, it's not a common occurrence.
October 05, 2017
TRINUS is excited to announce the launch of our new website. We’ve restructured and reorganized our marketing presence to better reflect the passion of our team and the services we provide.
October 02, 2017
TRINUS is proud to partner with Industry Leaders for both hardware and software who reflect our values of reliability, professionalism and Client-focused service.
