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    Blog / Digital Transformation Video Series – Part 8: Embrace the Journey! We have made it to the end of our 8-week series on Digital Transformation! The end of our saga marks the beginning of your own journey. You may be at the early information collection stage of your jaunt or perhaps further along and about to release the next tool of your roadmap. Whichever the case, […] October 29, 2020
    Blog / Proactive or Reactive Security: Red vs Blue Your staff needs to be aware of what is "normal" for them to be able to do with their computers. Then make sure they also know who to report things to if anything "outside the norm" occurs. Many situations that occur, happen because Security settings on computers are lax. If that is the root cause, then the fault lies with the organization. August 04, 2020
    Blog / What Healthcare Providers Need To Know About Computer Security And Standards TRINUS Account Manager Jon Harmon was recently interviewed by Jean L. Eaton, BA Admin (Healthcare), CHIM, CC, Privacy Coach and Practice Management Mentor with Information Managers Ltd, on the following topic: “What Healthcare Providers Need To Know About Computer Security And Standards.”   Here’s the Podcast, in the shape of a YouTube video:   June 15, 2020
    Blog / Email Filtering – Doing it Right is Very Tricky… Email must be one of my biggest peeves, when it comes to dealing with problems. Email is not really that complicated, since there are only three kinds of snags: configuration issues, hardware failure, and Spam. Configuration issues do not happen very often, since email systems are not the sort of thing that get repeatedly tinkered […] June 05, 2020
    Blog / Canadian Privacy Laws: Are You Approaching Them Right? This is a key question to ask, because in too many situations, the answer is: "Probably not." I've talked to several people who seem to think that Privacy Laws like PIPA and PIPEDA don't apply to them, or that the Anti-Spam Regulations are not pertinent. May 11, 2020
    Blog / To Update or Not to Update: There is No Question! It’s a new year. So, what does that mean advice-wise coming from me? “Update your equipment!” But haven’t I said this often times before? (Hint: Yes I have!) This is the mantra that all Security Specialists sing (and many IT people too.) Does that mean that updates should be applied as soon as they become […] January 14, 2020
    Blog / A Make-A-Wish Merry Christmas! – Opening the Doors of Hope… Just thought I'd share with you the fun we had on Thursday, December 19th, while on location at Abbey Glen Park and Commerce Place in downtown Edmonton, for the opening and unveiling of Doors #19 on the 2 Make-A-Wish Calendar of Wishes, both of which were sponsored by TRINUS. December 24, 2019
    Blog / Black Hat Friday and Cyber Criminal Monday! Many of you have likely heard about Black Friday; you know, the day after the American Thanksgiving. It’s that time of year for those looking to get the best deal, so they wait outside a Walmart or Best Buy in the early hours of the morning. November 29, 2019
    Blog / Oh, Hack! – Mandatory Breach Reporting Rules Review In the past year, 28 million Canadian identities have been impacted by one breach or another. The total population of Canada is 37.5 million; 28 million is 75% of that. There have been enough identities breached to impact 3 out of every 4 Canadians (regardless of being an adult or child, age, etc.)!! November 26, 2019
    Blog / CYBERSECURE CANADA Part V: Final Thoughts. The Security Controls put down in this Certification are incredibly useful. Even if your organization isn't intending to pursue it, making use of some of these controls they mention would be a good thing to help improve the Security of your outfit. October 30, 2019
    Blog / RIDL Me This! – Major Intel Chip Vulnerability There's a new vulnerability that targets Intel chips. It's similar to the 'Spectre' and 'Meltdown' attacks, which made massive headlines last year, as you may remember. What's interesting is that while this one is in the news, it's not being talked about nearly as much. May 16, 2019
    Blog / EQUIFAX Breach Update: Post Mortem – April 17, 2019 Considering the colossal blunder EQUIFAX made, it seems likely it’s not the last that will be heard about this. We've already seen multiple countries update (and sometimes implement) Breach and Privacy-related laws/legislation. Some fines have been levied and several Class Action lawsuits have been filed. April 17, 2019
    Blog / Slippery Software Security Surprises: Managing Your Operating System’s Updates 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
    Blog / Is Your Organization a House of Cards? 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
    Blog / How Secure is your Printer?? 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
    Blog / Are the Hackers “Winning”?? 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
    Blog / All I want for Christmas is a USB! 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
    Blog / Psst… What’s the Password? 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
    Blog / Wireless What?? – Simplify the WIFI!! 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
    Blog / Social Media is Everywhere… Yes, even There! 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
    Blog / Municipal IT Budget Planning – Part 7: Municipality Workstations and Laptops 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
    Blog / Netflix Beckons: A Few Thoughts about Working from Home 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
    Blog / Municipal IT Budget Planning – Part 5: Municipality Servers 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
    Blog / Small Mistakes can be Costly! 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
    Blog / Municipal IT Budget Planning – Part 4: Municipality Cyber Security 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
    Blog / Municipal IT Budget Planning – Part 3: Municipality Proactive Maintenance 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
    Blog / WiFi Authentication Vulnerability: SPECIAL PRIORITY ALERT – PLEASE READ!! 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
    Blog / AVOID GOING CHROMATOSE! 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
    Blog / USE THE FORCE, LUKE! – New Cyber Security Threat Seems to Conjure Passwords from Thin Air 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
    Blog / GOOD, FAST, CHEAP: Pick Any Two – A Simple Business Axiom Can Lead to Better IT Systems 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
    Blog / Ransomware meets WikiLeaks! 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
    Blog / BAD DAY AT THE BREACH – How to Respond to a Security Breach 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
    Blog / Not just a toy! 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
    Blog / Malware infecting Home Office Routers 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
    Blog / Too Many Cooks Spoil Security 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
    Blog / Keeping Your Kids Safe Online! – Safety Tips & Guides 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
    Blog / Cyber Security Newsletter – The Principle of LEAST PRIVILEGE 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
    Blog / PHONE SCAMS – by Your Friendly Neighbourhood Cyberman 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
    Blog / Final CES Thoughts News from the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show – Part 3 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
    Blog / World’s Biggest Tech Candy Store 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
    Blog / The Internet of Things 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
    Blog / EQUIFAX BREACH – Update 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
    Blog / Geographic IP Tracking 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
    Blog / Nice Cars! 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
    Blog / 65 Days until Christmas 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
    Blog / The Role of IT 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
    Blog / WIFI Vulnerability (KRACK) By now, most of you should have heard about KRACK, or at least that there is a serious vulnerability that exists in WIFI devices around the world. October 20, 2017
    Blog / Yet Another Crypto-wall Virus 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
    Blog / New Website that Reflects Our New Look! Trinus - Managed IT services website screenshot 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
    Blog / EQUIFAX Security Breach EQUIFAX Security Breach Malware attack impacts up to 100,000 Canadian clients EQUIFAX has been in the news recently – and it’s not good reports. Their database of user information – names, drivers’ license information, social insurance data, and more – has been hacked.  For those unfamiliar with EQUIFAX, they are a credit reporting agency that rates […] September 29, 2017
    Blog / IT Medications IT Medications Recurring IT Services and Subscriptions can be confusing I’m getting close to retirement age and like many in my age bracket, I take an assortment of medications to keep body-and-soul together; 10 pills in all at various times during the day. The names of most medications are hard to pronounce and I only […] September 07, 2017
    Blog / Budget Season Budget Season Planning for changes to IT Systems in 2018 For many of our clients, Fall is more than leaves turning colour and the weather getting colder.  It’s a time when they start planning their 2018 budgets.  Of course, IT forms part of that planning process. For most of our clients who require 2018 budget planning, we […] August 31, 2017
    Blog / Life Without Wires Life Without Wires Network Cabling is Still a Significant Cost to Proper Networking For as long as I have been in the computer industry, the promise of true wireless has been just around the corner.  Not only devices that don’t need a network cable, but ones that don’t have any wires at all; no power, […] August 25, 2017
    Blog / Social Media – What’s the Fuss? Social Media – What’s the Fuss? Taking a look at Social Media from a Manager’s Perspective Our Marketing Supervisor Chris Penn has been attending a Social Media Summer School in Spruce Grove for the past 8 weeks,  The 3-hour sessions were held every Wednesday morning and  attended by 4 to 6 students in each class.  I sat in on […] August 18, 2017
    Blog / The NEW Cloud The NEW Cloud Next Generation of Cloud Providers may be in your Neighbourhood This August, Intel announced a new generation of server processors and related products.  You have to be very geeky to get excited about this – and at Trinus we are. There are some big changes coming to new servers in the areas […] August 14, 2017
    Blog / Your New Security Guard Your New Security Guard Organizations can benefit from a Holistic Approach to Cyber Security. I indicated last time that I had returned from holidays this week.  And while true, I wanted to include one more article from Karl Buckley, our Cyber Security Supervisor – as his submission this week is a follow-up to one previously […] August 05, 2017
    Blog / RSS Feeds RSS Feeds Rich Site Summary is a way to filter large amounts of website data into a concise summary. Today I wanted to share a tool that you may not be aware of: They are called RSS feeds. RSS stands for “Rich Site Summary” and it’s a way to get updates and notifications from websites […] July 27, 2017
    Blog / Hiding Viruses Inside of Files Hiding Viruses Inside of Files Why are some file formats more dangerous that others? You often hear about the dangers of opening attachments in your email. The problem is that nobody bothers to explain exactly WHY this is dangerous. “Oh you could get a virus” sure that explains WHAT could happen, but not WHY. I […] July 20, 2017
    Blog / Cyber-Awareness and Cyber-Bullying Bullying is real. It exists and it happens. This is a fact that most people accept and understand. "Cyber-Bullying" is just as real and happens (probably more than you might think) July 13, 2017
    Blog / A Treasure Hunt A Treasure Hunt Microsoft can request an audit of your licensed software Who doesn’t like the thrill of a summer Treasure Hunt.  Most often, I remember them from a church or company picnic, or a birthday party.  Sometime after the sandwiches and soft drinks, the hunt would be organized in the nearby bushes.  The prizes […] July 06, 2017
    Blog / Fool Me Once, Shame on You … Fool Me Once, Shame on You … New ransomware virus follows same pattern as WannaCry Just about everyone is familiar with the idiom, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. It’s one of life’s little lessons that we learn. No one likes to be tricked, but not learning from the […] June 28, 2017
    Blog / The Tax Man cometh The Tax Man cometh Same old scam looks like a notice about a tax credit As someone who has worked in the business world for several decades, I’ve had the occasional visit from CRA – the Canada Revenue Agency (aka: the Tax Man). None of the visits were to present me with a refund cheque, […] June 22, 2017
    Blog / It’s the Government, Man! It’s the Government, Man! Government of Canada issue warnings about the Internet of Things Devices I’m old enough to remember the Hippies of the 60’s – although I was a bit young to really understand what was going on.  It was a time when the Baby Boomers were into their teens and early 20s – […] June 14, 2017
    Blog / Keep your Smartphone Clean Keep your Smartphone Clean Forgotten APPs collect on your phone long after their usefulness I am attending a conference this week in Grande Prairie.  It’s a chance to meet several clients and discuss their IT needs away from the busyness of their offices.  We attend about 1/2 dozen conferences each year.  This year, the organizers […] June 09, 2017
    Blog / ZIP It! ZIP It! Popular File Archive format is a dangerous Email attachment In high school, I had one colourful teacher who was a bit rough around the edges.  She was a good teacher, but she had a blue-collar way of speaking that left her students wondering where they were – the classroom or the warehouse loading […] June 01, 2017
    Blog / Hasta la vista, baby Hasta la vista, baby An easy way to create great passwords that are tough to crack Who doesn’t remember Arnold’s famous phrase from Terminator 2: Judgement Day. It’s not high art, but it is iconic. Arnold used it frequently during his political career. Sir Lawrence Olivier could never deliver a line like that.  But, is […] May 24, 2017
    Blog / WannaCry Cryptoware Virus WannaCry Cryptoware Virus Latest Cryptoware virus uses familiar methods to attack computers globally I haven’t been back from vacation for much more than a week, and already I have lots to write about. The most recent fixation in the computer world is the WannCry virus. May 16, 2017
    Blog / More Travel Woes – right from the comfort of your own home More Travel Woes – right from the comfort of your own home Latest Email SCAM targets unsuspecting travelers who use online airline check-in My Dad worked for airlines for most of his adult life; Air Canada and Pacific Western Airlines. Employees got a PERC of free airline passes (4 per year) for travel anywhere the […] April 07, 2017
    Blog / Geek Travel Kit Geek Travel Kit What to take with you on your next trip to stay in touch During my last trip overseas, I found myself lugging around lots of overweight luggage. When it came to lifting my luggage, the look of the check-in agents at the airports was always the same – disdain.  I didn’t think […] March 29, 2017
    Blog / Tales from the Jungle Tales from the Jungle How we take our pervasive technology for grantedI have returned! As many of you know, I spent the past 2-plus weeks traveling to – and working with – a client in Papua New Guinea. It’s not our normal sort of IT and Network support work, but rather training and enhancements to […] March 22, 2017
    Blog / Travel Plans Travel Plans SmartPhones and Laptops can be examined at border crossings I am getting ready for some overseas travel next week, and as it’s a business trip that involves technology, I am taking a lot of it with me – 2 laptops, a tablet, and of course my SmartPhone. There was a timely information segment […] March 02, 2017
    Blog / Hot Potato! Hot Potato! Regular backups are a necessary evil that no one wants to deal with By far the most common question/complaint we get when talking to clients concerns backups. It’s almost universally accepted that they need to be done, but few want the responsibility of taking care of them. February 22, 2017
    Blog / TRINUS is a Proud Participant in the Stony Plain & Spruce Grove Chambers of Commerce M-2-M Discount Programs By participating in the respective Spruce Grove and Stony Plain & District Chambers of Commerce Member-2-Member Discount Programs, Parkland County business owners and their employees enjoy special savings and discounts offered by the companies affiliated to them. During challenging economic times, it is more important than ever to find innovative and economical solutions to reward […] February 16, 2017
    Blog / If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It Lack of proactive maintenance and replacements hits client hard My Dad always believed in preventative car maintenance.  Not only did he want to insure we had a good vehicle to use, he also loved to tinker with cars at the local garage. I got to tag along. This […] February 09, 2017
    Blog / Be Prepared! Be Prepared! Contrasting approaches to Virus Countermeasures Impact Operations for 2 Clients I remember attending Boy Scouts as a youth.  The motto Be Prepared was drilled into us every week.  To reinforce it, they taught us lessons on how to build a campfire and cook over it, how to tie knots properly, and other skills […] February 06, 2017
    Blog / You’re Busted! You’re Busted! Latest SPAM plays on basic human fear of getting caught speeding It was bound to happen sooner or later.  The hackers are sending out speeding tickets.  With just about every jurisdiction in North America using photo radar cameras to enforce speed limits and traffic laws, most of us are accustomed to receiving their […] January 30, 2017
    Blog / Is Your Phone Number Unlisted? Is Your Phone Number Unlisted? Domain Name Registration SCAM Lures Clients Away From Legitimate Providers We just received our new phone book at home that is published by the Stony Plain Chamber of Commerce. Besides the nice Trinus computer ad, it has the traditional phone listings for all of the residents in the area. Our […] January 26, 2017
    Blog / Life’s Little Irritations Life’s Little Irritations Windows 10 Update Service causes more problems than just user aggravation I was getting ready to leave the office last Friday; it was just before 5:00PM. Of course, I started to shut down my laptop and was presented with the message that “Windows is getting ready to update your computer; please do […] January 19, 2017
    Blog / Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep … Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep … Complacent professional corporation is a ripe target for information theft I recently spent the better part of 2 days in a professional office in downtown Edmonton for meetings.  It wasn’t one of our clients; I was there representing someone else.  There was lots of downtime between sessions, […] January 16, 2017
    Blog / More Stuff You Might Not Need More Stuff You Might Not Need Upcoming Trends in Technology from the Consumer Electronics Show About every other year, a colleague and I attend the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.  Yes, we have some fun, but the intent is to pick up on industry trends for future technologies that will be coming to […] January 13, 2017
    Blog / Appropriate Technology Appropriate Technology Of paper, highlighters and calculators I recently had to prepare for a series of meetings.  My task was to review and distill about 5,000 pages of information into a timeline, picking out the important milestones and organizing them into something I could use for reference as the meetings progressed. The source documents were […] January 10, 2017
    Blog / Pretty In Pink Pretty in Pink What’s it take to track down and eradicate a hacker attack … No, this is not a review of the 1986 movie starring Molly Ringwald; I’ve never even seen it – and from reading a few online reviews, I don’t want to. But it does refer to a recent episode whereby one […] January 02, 2017
    Blog / Amway’s Evil Twin Sister Amway’s Evil Twin Sister Latest ransomware encourages victims to sacrifice their friends and colleagues. I’m sure most of you will remember Amway, it seemed impossible to avoid a friend or colleague that was selling their products in the home.  The marketing scheme was simple, but effective – as an Amway dealer, you were to leverage […] December 29, 2016
    Blog / The BIGGER They are … The BIGGER They are … The harder they fall – Botnet attack brings down DYN, Twitter, Netflix, Amazon Our story today – dear readers – begins innocently enough with a very simple virus that penetrated several Internet-enabled devices that still had the default manufacturer’s passwords.  These were dumb devices like printers, routers, security (IP) cameras, […] December 26, 2016
    Blog / Turn It Off Turn it Off Powering down computers at the end of the day can save more than power. It used to be that we’d recommend that clients restart their computers at least once a week; many people wanted to leave their computers on for extended periods of time, especially if they had complex configurations or a […] December 21, 2016
    Blog / More Printer Woes More Printer Woes MFP Devices Keeps Infecting Corporate Network With Crypto-wall Virus We received an unconfirmed report from a client that a U.S. corporation was having trouble eradicating a crypto-wall virus from their network despite a wholesale restore from backups and a thorough anti-virus inspection of the workstations. It was the gift that kept on […] December 19, 2016
    Blog / Mission Accomplished! Mission Accomplished! Twenty Ft. McMurray fire victims to receive refurbished computers for Christmas. No one can forget the devastation and panic the fires in the Ft. McMurray region caused this past summer. 80,000 plus people fled the area to get away from the raging fires that engulfed the region.  Hundreds of homes were destroyed, there […] December 14, 2016
    Blog / You Have Mail! You Have Mail! Canada Post SCAM leads to malware infection A client recently received an Email that appeared to be from Canada Post claiming that they had a package waiting for delivery.  It has the usual information about the delivery; ID number, date and time, and a payment amount.  There is even a link to […] December 12, 2016
    Blog / The Devil You Know… The Devil You Know … IT Manager does malicious damage to local college You may have picked up on a recent news investigation report from CBC and others about the massive trouble at Norquest College.  It appears that back in February, 2013 a disgruntled IT Manager perpetrated two fraud schemes against senior staff as a backlash […] December 10, 2016
    Blog / It’s BUDGET Time It’s BUDGET Time The leaves change colour and it’s time to start thinking about budgets. Many of our clients are municipalities who operate with a fiscal year and that coincides with the calendar year.  That means they need to start preparing budgets in the fall to insure their elected officials have time to review and […] September 10, 2016
    Blog / Hackers Strike Another Unsuspecting Victim Hackers Strike Another Unsuspecting Victim Northern Alberta Municipality network is shutdown for up to 2 weeks. There has been a lot of (unwanted) media attention given recently to a municipality in Northern Alberta who has been fighting an intrusion into their network.  According to news reports the problems started back in July, but reached a […] August 31, 2016
    Blog / I Need a REALLY BIG computer I Need a REALLY BIG computer There is more to document management than just scanning files We received a call the other day from a client asking for a REALLY BIG computer and a scanner.  Now, we’ll all for selling some gear to a client, but we asked a few more questions to dig in […] August 24, 2016
    Blog / The BIG Phone Book: How do Email and website requests find you? The BIG Phone Book How do Email and website requests find you? We were recently transitioning a client to a new Email system.  It required that some settings be changed in their DNS to point to the new provider.  The matter was complicated by the addition of another technology provider who also needed to change […] August 22, 2016
    Blog / Who is Calling Please? Aggressive Phone Solicitation Preys on Old Fears Who is Calling Please? Aggressive Phone Solicitation Preys on Old Fears A client called us yesterday to question the security and stability of their network.  The call wasn’t really serious as the long-standing client knows we have their network support and security under good control.  But they did want to report a new twist on […] August 10, 2016
    Blog / That BLACK BOX Can be Dangerous Servers and Racks are Ignored when Considering Security of Files and Data Most organizations with more than 10 employees have local servers to help organize, control and store corporate information. For the most part, these servers hum away in obscurity located in some dark corner of the office – or even a broom closet. Over […] August 05, 2016
    Blog / What Did You Say? Firewall 101 What is a Firewall Anyway? I recently had a client ask me a question: What is a firewall?  I was somewhat taken aback as I had just Emailed them about the virtues of Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) Blocking service that we were recommending for the Dynamic Filtering Services on their Watchguard firewall … I might […] July 27, 2016
    Blog / I Hate Passwords! Lax Password Enforcement is still a Priority Concern We hear the phrase I Hate Passwords in one form or another with monotonous regularity. I think I have muttered it under my breath several times recently. I decided to take inventory. Between personal and business, I added up the number of accounts that require some sort […] July 21, 2016
    Blog / Katy, Bar the Door – Literally Physical Security Begins with a Simple Change in Door Locks Katy Bar the Door is a strange phrase with it’s origins in the story of Catherine Douglas from Scottish history of the 15th century. She used her arm to block a door that was left unbolted as the King and court escaped from would-be assassins. She […] July 14, 2016
    Blog / Anti-virus Software is prone to attacks by the way it scans files for viruses We recently became aware of a bug in the Symantec EndPoint anti-virus software that makes it prone to virus attacks. The vulnerability is common to just about all versions of Symantec anti-virus products including Norton, EndPoint, Email, and SharePoint AV products. The vulnerability has to do with the way Symantec checks executable (exe) files for […] July 08, 2016
    Blog / Microsoft Offers Free Windows 10 Upgrade, but is it right for you? Microsoft Offers Free Windows 10 Upgrade, but is it right for you? Earlier this year, we sent information about upgrading to Windows 10 – and the impact it might have on your organization.  The deadline for the free upgrade is 1 month away, so I wanted to re-print the original article for you; we are […] July 05, 2016
    Blog / Helping Ft. McMurray Fire Evacuees Helping Ft. McMurray Fire Evacuees Providing Recycled Computers to the Unfortunate Residents of the Recent Fire We have all watched as the residents of Ft. McMurray fled the devastation of the recent wildfire.  Many have lost everything and it may be years before some can return to the town and resume normal lives. The response […] May 18, 2016
    Blog / Trinus Tech Tips Trinus 10 Tech Tips    1. When you get an email from your bank, PayPal, eBay, or anyone claiming that your account has a problem it is probably a phishing scam intended to get you to type in your password. DO NOT ever click on the links in the message. 2. Nobody will email you […] April 29, 2016
    Blog / Trinus Recommendations for Windows 10 Trinus Recommendations for Windows 10 – March 29, 2016 Windows 10 is a free upgrade that is available until July 29th, 2016. If you are unsure if you should upgrade to Windows 10 – or what effect it will have on your computer or business, Trinus provides these recommendations. March 29, 2016
    Blog / Technology for Learning Trinus is excited to announce that we are apart of the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) initiative for the Parkland School Division.  All of the devices that we offer meet the requirements and guidelines for the devices needed in the classroom.  Our qualified technicians will help you child pick the best device for their needs and can […] March 08, 2016
    Blog / Tradeshows! Trinus Computer Centre and Trinus Technologies is out in full force these up coming months seeing everyone in the community. First, our IT Security team will be at the Acheson Business Association talking about crime prevention. Its the 1st Annual Tri-Area Business Crime Prevention Breakfast. It will be held on Tuesday, March 22nd. Event Description: The […] February 29, 2016
    Blog / 12 Days of Christmas Trinus is excited to let you know that we have a special 12 Days of Christmas Sale starting December 10th and going through to December 23rd. Every day we are going to have a new deal to make sure you get everything tech on everyones Christmas wish lists. We are open Monday- Wednesday, Friday 9:00am-6:00pm, […] November 02, 2015
    Blog / IMPORTANT: Crypto-Wall IMPORTANT INFORMATION It has come to our attention the number of clients who are being affected by the Crypto-Wall virus (AKA: Crypto-Locker or Ransomware) have all of a sudden jumped.  It is important that the users on your system understand the dangerous nature of this type of virus. Here are a few facts on the […] August 28, 2015
    Blog / Windows 10 Wifi Sense Windows 10 brings with it a host of new features designed to make using Windows 10 easier and better than all versions before it.  One of these new features however, dubbed “Wifi Sense” may not just make life easier but, could make your wireless network less secure. In a nutshell, Wifi Sense is a feature […] August 05, 2015
    Blog / Windows 10 Hello: As you may know, Microsoft is releasing a new desktop Operating System (O/S) on July 29, 2015, called Windows 10. There are purported to be many advantages to this O/S  over the current Windows 7 or 8 that you use now.  Another significant advantage is that Windows 10 will be free of charge to existing Windows […] July 07, 2015
    Blog / July Newsletter   In this issue: -Virtual Reality Headsets -Stay Protected on Public Wi-Fi -Trinus Announcements -Fun Facts! Click here to read the July Newsletter   Want to receive our newsletters to your email? Sign up today! July 02, 2015
    Blog / June Newsletter   In this issue: -Scam Emails -New NASA Technology That Saved Lives in Nepal -Trinus Announcements -Fun Facts! Click here to read the June Newsletter   Want to receive our newsletters to your email? Sign up today! June 01, 2015
    Blog / May Newsletter   In this issue: -Is Google Indexing Your Data? -Paris and Their Anti-Drones -Trinus Announcements -Fun Facts! Click here to read the May Newsletter   Want to receive our newsletters to your email? Sign up today! May 01, 2015
    Blog / Informed and Warned! Google Indexing Personal Data Is Google Indexing your Personal Data? April 16th By Kevin White If you use a computer chances are that you also use Google to search for various things on a daily basis.  But what if someone else on the internet could use Google to search for your private information that you had once thought was […] April 16, 2015
    Blog / Informed and Warned! Cryptowall Virus   Be aware of this new super virus. It’s called the Cryptowall 3.0 and it is out to do as much damage as possible. Read about it here!   Click here to go back to Business Solutions April 02, 2015
    Blog / April Newsletter   In this issue: -The new Cyrptowall 3.0 virus -How the Cyrptowall virus gets onto your computer -Trinus Announcements -Fun Facts! Click here to read the April Newsletter   Want to receive our newsletters to your email? Sign up today! April 02, 2015
    Blog / Tri Municipal Expo Business & Home We are excited to announce that Trinus will be setting up at the Tri Municipal Expo Business & Home from March 27 to 29th. Come check us out! Click Here for More Info TransAlta Tri Leisure Centre 221 Jennifer heil Way Spruce Grove, AB T7X 4J5 March 04, 2015
    Blog / New Website, New Look Being months in the making, Trinus has launched a fresh new website to really bring forth our team, our services, and our work. Our new website separates the Computer Centre and its services from our Business Solutions. Our goal was to improve our online user experience by creating a well organized navigation with interactive elements. […] March 04, 2015

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