The NordPass Research team has published a list of the 200 most popular passwords. If you use any of these most popular passwords... don’t worry, we have recommendations to create strong passwords in 2023. NordPass Research partnered with independent researchers who...
SpireTech Company News and Tips
Security
Phishing Education: two case studies and tips
Continuous phishing education is important to anyone who uses the Internet. So, pretty much everyone. A "successful" phishing campaign can lead to the loss of sensitive data, personal information distributed, or extortion. People know not to click on spam messages, or...
Year-end checklist for small businesses
Be aware and be prepared! Whether you’re beginning to start a small business, or you are a fellow small business owner looking for guidance, please enjoy our checklist to help you through some year-end planning. IT Checklist Backup dataThe best way to ensure your...
SpireTech exiting hosting business to focus on Managed IT Services
Celebrating our 29th year in business, SpireTech has been making some moves. We are exiting our long-established hosting and datacenter businesses to focus exclusively on Managed Services and Microsoft 365 moving forward. Effective October 4,...
TikTok Hack Breaks Accounts
There was an exploitation available in the Android version of TikTok that would have allowed hackers to effectively take and shut down a user’s account with one click. This bug was present in just the Android version of the app. Luckily, the issue was found and...
Goodbye Basic Authentication, Hello Modern Authentication
Beginning on October 1, 2022, Microsoft is disabling the ability to connect to Microsoft services using legacy authentication protocols. Users are moving to modern authentication whether they want it or not. It is also up to the user to make the switch, and after...
If you use Windows 11, you may be at risk for data loss
Users of Windows 11 or Windows Server 2022 with recent CPUs are at risk for data loss. Luckily, few users will be affected. The people who do need to worry are the ones who encrypt data regularly. To be at risk, users needed to have had one of the following hardware...
End-of-life for Sophos XG Firewall
If you depend on Sophos for your firewall, beware of the end-of-life date on August 17, 2022. On that day, Sophos firewall series XG 85, XG 105 and Sophos Firewall OS v17.5 reaches its end-of-life and will stop receiving security updates. If you are using these models...
Do Not Open: Phish Inside
There’s been a large increase in SMS-phishing (or short message service) in the past few years. If you receive a suspicious text, especially one with a link, do not open it. If you do get hacked, report it to your local law enforcement and inform your wireless...
Be careful what apps you install on your android phone
Researchers have discovered more malicious apps on the Google Play Store, including some that are designed to steal users' personal information. The researchers advise users to be cautious when downloading apps from the Google Play Store, and to only install apps...