Staying Connected

DROID DOESN'T

 
 

As a Hosted Exchange provider and IT service organization, ConnectWise fields many support calls and questions regarding smartphones.  Modern businesses lean heavily on a mobile workforce that requires on demand access to email, documents and other data; smartphones are quickly becoming the new medium for this access to data and a variety of other mobile communications.  One of the most important and utilized functions of a business oriented Smart Phone is email, and email in today’s business world means Microsoft Exchange. All of the major smartphone players on the market support some form of Microsoft Exchange sync (Windows Mobile, BlackBerry and iPhone), but the new kid on the block may have some hard lessons to learn before it is ready for secure and reliable Enterprise Email usage, welcome Droid.

Since Droid’s release last fall, users have been reporting issues with the smartphone’s Exchange support, most notably; virtually no support for many of Exchange’s enhanced security features.  A couple key security features Droid devices lack are: the ability to perform a remote wipe of the device in the event of loss or theft or the option for user specific PIN codes prior to accessing Exchange email.  The following lists some of the most notable user complaints regarding Exchange ActiveSync on Android devices:

1.    Inconsistent  and untimely syncing to Exchange

2.    Won’t sync to Exchange on Wi-Fi

3.    Default mail app won’t allow users to accept/decline calendar invites

4.    No option to create an email signature

5.    Unable to file/sort email to folders

6.    Inability to change alert settings for the notification bar on the device

7.    Difficulty with the initial setup and settings

8.    Messages in folders do not load

9.    Doesn’t search for contacts on the Exchange Server, only local contacts

* These complaints have not been verified, based on a forum thread on http://forum.androidcentral.com

ConnectWise engineers have found that some of these Exchange compatibility (or lack thereof) problems can be solved using a third-party mail app such as TouchDown by NitroDesk. This can help fill the gap for enterprise users until Google provides a much needed update to the Android’s base mail application.

Looking at the future for Android based phones; many are starting to realize that a variety of smartphone manufactures are quickly flooding the market with differing versions of the Android OS.  This non-standardization shows no clear upgrade path for either the operating system or applications and a wildly inconsistent deployment of core features on devices.  This is a problem desktop Linux has battled for years; becoming merely a starting point for a variety of incompatible devices offering consumers little cohesion between platforms.

In my opinion, corporate users shopping for a smartphone device should consider their short and long term smartphone needs before choosing to embrace this new OS; Android still has a long road to adulthood.

"I don't know how my computer got infected"....we do!

Most end-users are confused when their PC's become infected with Mal-ware/Spy-ware/Virus software, and they were only browsing the web for work and doing nothing out of the ordinary. Unfortunately on today's Internet, being cautious does not always equate to being secure.  There are many areas of the web which contain mal-ware and spam.  Even the common, or well-known sites are being used to distribute malicious software and phishing attacks.

In the second half of 2009 the web saw a 225% increase in malicious websites; more frightening is that 71% of the sites that were found to contain malicious code were legitimate sites which had been compromised.  Hackers are now using Search Engineer Optimization (SEO) to boost the ranking of their mal-ware sites in your search results, making it easier to believe they are legit sites.  Botnets are utilized to inflate search rankings.  As soon as a trend towards the latest hot topic is discovered (i.e. Super Bowl, Tiger Woods, etc.), botnets are instructed to artificially boost the malicious site's ranking for that search topic.

Worse yet, hackers are increasingly injecting malicious code in websites that already appear in the top 100 search results and are often considered safe or trusted by end-users.  Often "bad-links" are being injected via user-submitted content such as news items, posts, and comments. 

Email traffic still consists of mostly Spam (85%), but 81% of that now contains links to malware.  With increased social trending being used against us, how does your average user avoid becoming a victim? Some simple rules still apply:

1. Have a corporate firewall (such as a Sonicwall) that blocks mal-ware/viruses.  Ensure this hardware is configured properly and up to date.

2. Run and maintain local virus protection software (such as Mcafee ASP).  Though at best these products are only ~70% effective, they are a vital layer in protecting your PC.

3. Keep Windows, Office, and Internet Explorer up to date with any patches that are released and approved by your IT provider. This applies to any 3rd party software as well

4. If possible, do not have local administrative rights on your PC.  Use a dedicated admin account for installations as needed.

5. Advanced users may also want to try web browsing with a 3rd party browser such as Google Chrome, Firefox or Opera.  Often Internet Explorer is necessary for web applications, but not for day-to-day browsing.

References: http://www.websense.com/content/State-of-Internet-Security-Q3-Q4-2009.aspx?cmpid=prblog