IT Security Top 10 Tips for 2009

#10 Wifi: As you travel are you will frequently see “Free Public Wifi” in your list of available wireless networks. This is almost always a VIRUS on someone’s computer trying to get you to connect so it can infect you also. Think of this as the “free public used gum” stuck under your desk. DO NOT ‘connect’ to it for any reason. Never connect to any Wi-Fi you do not fully trust; unless of course you like hackers using your identity or credit cards…

#9 Fake News Emails: Never click on any links in an email from CNN or MSNBC, or any other "news alerts" that you have never subscribed to. No matter how realistic it looks. Usually they start with a very absurd or weird story such as "Britney Spears killed in a car accident or Bigfoot found in new jersey, etc.." Even if you have subscribed to news alerts it is best to be cautious when following links.

#8 Fake “tracking number” Emails: If you get a "UPS tracking " attachment never ever open these attachments, they are virus's. They also appear to come from FedEx, USPS, etc… A valid tracking email will never have an attachment.

#7 Fake “Greeting Cards”: Never open a email postcard (Hallmark e-card is the most popular) unless it’s your birthday and it’s from someone you expect it from. This is the main delivery mechanism of most of our virus’s today. Also, an e-card will never have an attachment with a .exe extension.

#6 Lock your Desktop when not in use and have a screensaver password. Also lock your mobile devices (phone) with a password. If you don’t lock the doors then it does not make much sense to bar the windows. Don’t make it easy for hackers or others who would want to cause damage.

#5 Fake Instant Messages: Many people here use IM to communicate. It is a great tool but you need to be suspicious of hyperlinks; even if the link appears to be from your friends or coworkers. When a computer gets infected by a virus it is not uncommon for it to steal the address book and email/IM all of that persons contacts with the same virus. Best rule of thumb: Don’t follow hyperlinks

#4 Don’t put every CD you get mailed or USB key you find lying in the parking lot into your PC, they can “auto-install” a virus onto your PC or do many other nasty things. You didn’t just win a free prize, this is like the “free used gum”; besides it is a very well known technique for hackers and pen-testers alike. Again, don’t make it easy for the bad guys.

#3 Make sure you have Antivirus Installed and make sure that it has recent definitions, if you AV software is not updating, it is almost as good as not having it at all. In today’s day and age antivirus is a must…. well maybe not if you don’t have an internet connection…

#2 Keep your software up to date. Do your Microsoft Updates and software updates for all the products that you use. This includes software like Adobe, VMware and whatever else you use. We try our best to reach every machine with ECM but we can’t reach every machine due to a variety of issue and we don’t patch your home machines. Also we can’t patch your work machines unless you keep them powered on and put them in the WP domain. As the famous ex-hacker Kevin Mitnick suggests “Update your OS religiously and be vigilant in applying all security patches released by the software manufacturer.”

And the #1 thing Everyone should do in 2009 is:
#1 Backup everything you use. Make sure you have it somewhere else, on an external hard drive, a file share, somewhere. Don’t assume that anyone else (even IT) is backing that data up. If you have a question if a file share is being backed up please contact the IT Department, otherwise assume it is not. One Worm or Trojan or drive crash can wipe out 100% of your data forever, don’t let it happen to you.

How to change ESX SSL so its actually trusted.

Found a good article

http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/change_name_and_cert.php

ESX 3.5 Default & Suggested Partition Sizes

Partition - Default - Brian Suggested


/boot - 100mb - 200mb EXT3
Reason : Possible future boot size needs

/ (root) - 5gb - 20-25gb EXT3
Reason: 3rd Party apps goes here..

Swap - 544mb - 1600mb
Reason: Should be 2x console Ram (272 is default, 800 is max, go high)

/var/log - 2gb - 10-15gb EXT3
Reason: move mount to /var instead of /var/log, log files go here, logging is good

VMKCORE go with default
Reason: this is the crash dump area

VMFS3 whatever you have, use iSCSI or fcSAN if possible.

Symantec changes mind about VMotion Support

At this time running the Symantec Endpoint Manager (SEPM) is considered an alternative configuration and will be handled with "Best Effort Support".
Customers have reported problems with Symantec AntiVirus Server and Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager with VMware VMotion ESX server. These problems may or may not be related to the presence of VMware VMotion or the presence of the Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager.
…
Symantec is investigating each support case and will update Symantec products where necessary.

Can't Log into 2008 Server with network account

The error is: The User Profile Service failed the logon. User profile cannot be loaded.

I had added this 2008 Server to the domain, and I can still login with a local admin, but not my domain account. The fix was to disable UAC, then it worked.

Symantec doesn't support SAV OR SEP on VM's..awesome

Question/Issue: Is ESX server Vmotion supported with SAV and SEP?

Symptoms: There have been many issues reported a few examples are, Client communication problems Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager (SEPM) communication issues Content update failures Policy update failures Client data does not get entered in to the database Replication failures

Solution:Symantec does not support ESX server Vmotion at this time.

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/ent-security.nsf/docid/2008101607465248?Open&seg=ent

Some Good Alternative Apps

Instead of notepad or wordpad, try Textpad or Ultraedit
http://www.textpad.com/download/index.html
http://www.ultraedit.com/downloads/ultraedit_download.html

Instead of Adobe Reader, try Foxit
http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php

Instead of Adobe Elements, try Primo PDF
http://www.primopdf.com/