In case you missed it last month, we’ve licensed specialized software that runs in Azure that optionally enables additional security for our clients using Office 365. The software works to automatically keep...
Portland IT Support Articles & Business Tech News
Cybersecurity, M365, Managed IT Services, AI, & Technology Trends for Portland Businesses
Please honor the weekly maintenance messages
With work from home, we’re noticing an increase in the number of machines being shut off when we are trying to install updates. Please remember to log off and leave your computers turned on and connected to power when we prompt you for updates. Thank you for your...
Sophos Firewall breach postmortem
Security vendor Sophos disclosed that during the breach we wrote about last month, hackers tried and failed to install ransomware. The firewalls which received the hotfix blocked the subsequent attempts to install ransomware – this includes...
Sophos Intercept X gets 100% rating in testing
We are thrilled to announce that Intercept X received a 100% total accuracy rating in the enterprise, SMB, and consumer protection tests by SE Labs. Whether you are protecting your employees at work, or them and their families at home, you will get outstanding...
For those of you using Microsoft Authenticator for M365
For those of you using Microsoft Authenticator and getting push notifications to approve sign-ins on your email and Microsoft online services, congratulations! You’ve just added another layer of security to your account. However - a word of advice: if you get a...
Windows 7 EOL reminder
As a reminder to what we advised last month, we’re putting a stop to SpireTech support for Win 7 machines on July 1st. Congratulations to those of you that have successfully eradicated these machines from your networks. However – in a review today, we see that...
SpireTech now offering M365 Security Essentials Pack
SpireTech Managed Services clients are now able to purchase a security essentials add-on for Microsoft 365 offered by SpireTech. This add-on, based on powershell and services running in Microsoft...
Zoom and Teams added to the list of software we support
With the recent news around Zoom and security updates, we have added it to the list of third-party software we automatically update. While we’ve supported Teams for some time, we’ve formally added it to the list of...
Windows 7 Contractual issues
We are going to remove Windows 7 systems from SpireTech support effective July 1, 2020. Microsoft ended support for Windows 7 on January 14th, 2020. We have been giving everyone some extra time to get those last...
Hackers breach Sophos firewalls to steal VPN usernames and passwords
The morning of Saturday the 25th of April, our technicians woke up to see an email in our boxes about a zero-day security breach of Sophos firewalls. A novice might read it and think “another boring security email” – we read it and thought immediately “this isn’t...
Changes needed in security policy due to WFH
Some of the security concerns we’ve been warning clients about recently have turned out to be true. Read on to hear about recent incidents, what we’ve already done, and are planning to do to further shore things up. Each Managed...
SpireTech announces new server cloud migration technology
Apr 1, 2020 Portland, OR. - for immediate release In response to an uptick in demand for customers to work from home, SpireTech has developed some new technology to rapidly move legacy servers to the...
Datacenter bandwidth upgrade coming soon
We’re upgrading the bandwidth in our Portland colocation facility to have four times the current bandwidth. Part of the upgrade has already been completed, and the rest will be completed in May. We’ll be increasing the included data transfer and port...
WFH security issues
We remain very concerned about recent security issues related to work from home, including: Proper anti-virus and anti-malware software installed on home systems Patch management and updates of home systems VPN’s allowing additional paths for...
From the trenches: An IT worker’s perspective on WFH issues
IT workers around the world have been busy the last couple of weeks. At SpireTech, the service desk has been slammed with issues relating to everybody getting setup to work from home (WFH) and we apologize for any...
Improved client reporting rolling out in March
Starting this month, SpireTech VIPsupport Managed Services clients will be receiving improved reports. These reports will go to the main contact(s) in your organization charged with overseeing your SpireTech relationship. The reports are interactive with...
