Welcome
Welcome to our March, 2005 Quark IT Newsletter - its a bit on the late side, but we've been extremely busy and trying our hardest to get this out on time as well.
The Microsoft Security Summit was really well patronised - around 1000 people attended this quarter compared to about 600 at the previous one. The information Microsoft presented
at this summit was quite interesting, and it looks like they are taking security seriously with many current and future products.
We'll talk more about this summit and the Sharepoint component of Microsoft Small Business Server 2003. The wireless networking section will have to be held over until a future
newsletter.
If you'd like more information about anything covered in this newsletter, please
contact Quark IT.
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In This Issue... |
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Update Zone
The latest update for Windows, Microsoft Office and other important software. |
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The Latest Virus And Worm Information
Netsky.Q is still causing issues worldwide, which is amazing for a Worm that should have no reason to exist if people only patched their systems regularly... |
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Microsoft Security Summit
An overview of what was discussed at the recent Microsoft Security Summit. |
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Spam and Spyware Update
An update to last month's Spyware article brought on by Microsoft's entry into this market. |
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Small Business Server 2003 Features: SharePoint Services
Internal website for sharing documents, calendars and tasks. |
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Next Month
We continue our Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 Series by looking at Remote Web Workplace and we'll also have a look at some simple security tips
to help you keep your network secure. |
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Special Offers
Special offers for Quark IT clients. (This link redirects to the Quark IT website.) |
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Signing Off
Final words. |
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Microsoft Security Summit |
Why a Security Summit?
Microsoft holds a number of meetings throughout the year to communicate with their partners and their sales channel. These meetings range from introducing new products such as Microsoft Windows
Media Centre Edition and SQL Server 2005 to training on the best way to install operating systems and applications such as Windows XP and Office 2003 to general information about Microsoft
products and the direction that Microsoft is taking. The Microsoft Security Summits are held to focus on security. Whilst some security is covered in many of these other meetings, it is not the
focus of the meetings. The Microsoft Security Summits are held a few times a year and are open to not only the Microsoft Partner channel, but also to the general public so we can all get updated
information about securing Microsoft products and the steps Microsoft is taking to secure upcoming products.
Microsoft and Security
One thing that Microsoft has not been known for in the past is making software that is secure. Actually, they have not been well known for making software that considered security in its design.
There are a vast number of things that, in the past, Microsoft has done with their operating systems and applications that has even reduced the security that was built in.
This is changing. Microsoft is becoming acutely aware that not only their products need to pull their socks up when it comes to security, but also that the products released by its partners
for use with Microsoft systems also need to become a lot more secure. There are a number of ways that Microsoft and their partners can improve their security standards and one of the best is by
Microsoft being open about their current and upcoming products and speaking directly to their partners and customers about security. This is what these Summits do - provide a way for this
information to be delivered to Microsoft's partners and customers. These summits are a good thing for the IT industry as a whole.
What Was Covered
- Security Risk Management
- Fighting SPAM in Exchange Environment
- Defence in Depth Against Malicious Software
- Securing the Infrastructure - Service Pack 1 for Windows Server 2003 and XP Service Pack 2
- Securing the Perimeter - Exchange and VPN Access with ISA 2004
- Managing a Windows Server 2003 Environment - SMS and MOM
- Identity and Access Management (Group Policy Integration)
- Connect to your Business Systems from Anywhere and Any Device
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Conclusion
As we all know security is one of the biggest concerns facing small to medium business today. SMBs are particularly vulnerable because of the lack of in-house IT staff and expertise. What
you probably don’t know is that Microsoft has now realized the impact security, or lack thereof, has had on their end users and SMBs' profit margins. This means good news for everyone. Microsoft
has now re-focused its entire product line to be security focused from the ground up. Unfortunately there is only so much that can be done to existing products, so Microsoft has focused on
re-architecting all of the upcoming operating systems and applications with security being the top priority. That is not to say that there is nothing that can nor should be done now to get
secure.
Security is a bit like an onion - we need to take a layered approach. On the outer layer we need a hardware firewall, then on the individual workstations and servers we have anti-virus,
anti-spyware and a software firewall. Patch Maintenance is another important layer in the approach to a secured system. To make this an achievable reality Microsoft has released Windows XP
Service Pack 2. This isn’t just a collection of fixes and updates as per the norm BUT rather a major effort on Microsoft’s part to increase security. Microsoft also announced that Internet
Explorer 7 is in the works and should begin public BETA testing early June. MSIE 7 will continue the good work Microsoft did in Service Pack 2 to utilising new techniques to further help reduce
spyware and phishing scams.
Unfortunately one of the biggest security problems is one that not even Microsoft can fix... the end user. We need to take more care on what we allow to install on our computers and what we
allow to install from websites. The simple rule of thumb is only install applications from providers you can trust. How do you know if you can trust a certain application? The easy way is to
ask yourself the following questions:
- Have I heard of the company before?
- Do I really need this application?
- Am I downloading this from a reputable website?
If the answer to any one of the above questions is NO then DO NOT download or allow any applications to install.
Microsoft is really making an effort in the field of security, they aren’t quite there yet but things are starting to look positive, and if they can achieve most of the goals set in time for
Longhorn (the next version of windows) than we can all look forward to a more safe and secure computing experience.
If anyone is interested we can supply the full transcripts and video streams (where applicable) for any of the sessions listed above.
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Spam and Spyware Update |
Spam Update
It appears that China is starting to take spam seriously. Up until recently, China and many other Asian nations were some of the highest sources of spam - about 1 in 5 spam emails comes from China
and South Korea. This dubious honour has now passed to Europe, particularly western European countries like Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Spain. This increase in spam from Europe
contributed to a worldwide increase in spam by 94% in February, 2005 as compared to February, 2004.
The two main anti-spam organisations - the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPC) and the China Internet Network Information Centre (CNNIC) are both actively employing anti-spam
methods and encouraging the adoption of tougher anti-spam legislation by the Chinese government.
Thanks in a major part to these two organizations, the amount of spam received by Chinese Internet users dropped by around 15% in the latter half of 2004 compared to the first half of 2004.
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Spyware Update
Microsoft has informed us that the personal version of Microsoft AntiSpyware will remain a freely downloadable antispyware application. However, they will have a corporate version of their
AntiSpyware tool that will not be free, the pricing of which is yet to be determined. The corporate version will allow centralised management and monitoring of the Microsoft AntiSpyware
installations across the entire network.
Microsoft released an updated Beta on February 16, 2005, version 1.0.509, that incorporated a lot of changes based on feedback received by their customers. If you want to make sure you have the
latest version installed, run Microsoft AntiSpyware, go to Help/About Microsoft AntiSpyware... and check the version number. If you have an earlier version, then go to File/Check for updates...
and download the latest version of the application and its data files.
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Small Business Server 2003 Features: SharePoint Services |
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What is Windows SharePoint Services?
Well there really isn’t an easy answer to this question, but in this article we will attempt to highlight most of the features of Windows SharePoint Services as they apply
to Small Business Server 2003. Out-of-the-box Windows SharePoint Services provides an Intranet location that serves as a centralized information hub, where individuals and teams can collaborate
and communicate more easily and productively.
Wouldn’t it be nice to always find the document you were looking for? Rather than simply dumping it on the file server why not post it to the Intranet
along with its description?
General Features
- Better Communication – SharePoint provides a powerful and flexible yet easy to use tool that helps keep staff connected and productive
- Noticeboard – can be used as a replacement for the office noticeboard and its various pieces of paper
- Holiday Calendar – allows the staff and management easy access to your organization's holiday calendar, this may result in greatly simplifying the planning of holidays
- Document Storage – imagine having all of your office, HR and other procedures in one easily accessible place
- Ease of Use - SharePoint was designed with ease of use in mind, no prior web design experience or knowledge is required to administer, modify or customise the look and feel
of the site
- Exchange Server 2003 Integration – share your appointments with others in a central location
- SBS Fax Services Integration – have all of your companies incoming faxes automatically routed to the SharePoint website
- Document Tracking System – SharePoint can be used as basic document management and revision tracking system. Office 2003 fully integrates with SharePoint, the added benefit
of this is that no new applications need to be deployed or learned by your staff to take advantage of this feature.
- Help Desk – the help desk functionality that can either be directed to the internal IT support staff or utilised by Quark IT to respond and resolve any issues that you may
come across on a day to day basis
- Discussion Forum – can be used by the staff to discuss various issues and topics
- Collaboration Server – everyone can easily see who's currently available, they can send e-mail or instant messages requesting collaboration. Alerts can also be set to be
automatically emailed when changes are made to documents or for various other events
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Functionality
Windows SharePoint Services can be used for a number of purposes in your business. It could be configured so that there is an area for forms such as sick leave, holiday leave, roster change requests
and so on, allowing all of these forms to be located in one easily found area so that staff can fill them out online or download and print them out.
If you wish to use the front page of your SharePoint site as a general notice board, you can post information that is applicable to all staff members such as sales targets and results, company
achievements and results of the footy tipping competition.
Individual teams can have their own SharePoint site with information specific to that team on this site. This will enable you to post global information to the main SharePoint site and have the
more specific information made available to the teams to which it is relevant.
Windows SharePoint Services integrates fully with the Microsoft Office 2003 suite (Professional, Small Business, Standard and Basic editions). Integration with earlier versions of the Microsoft Office suite is only
partial, resulting in various degrees of reduced functionality depending on the version of Microsoft Office. If you would like to upgrade your Microsoft Office installation to the latest version,
please contact Quark IT and we can discuss the various options available to you.
Scalability
Windows SharePoint Services is based on SQL and in its default configuration it runs on WMSDE (the new Windows Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine). Being based on an SQL database means SharePoint
can easily grow with your company. All that needs to be done is to convert the WMSDE database into the full MS SQL Server Database which is available as part of SBS2003 Premium Edition.
An added bonus with Windows SharePoint Services running with Microsoft SQL Server is that a full search facility can be made available, allowing you to search for a particular word or phrase used
throughout the entire SharePoint site, including all documents.
Windows SharePoint Services is available for all Windows Server 2003 products BUT only Small Business Server 2003 comes with it installed, configured and customized for your organization and ready to use
out of the box.
As you can see Windows SharePoint Services is a valuable resource, just one of the many compelling reasons to implement Small Business Server 2003 in your office. For more information why not take the
SharePoint tour at Microsoft's Sharepoint Site.
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