Category: Chicago

Chicago, CyberSecurity, Partners, Splunk

The 2020 Magic Quadrant for SIEM

Mar 5, 2020 by Sam Taylor

For the seventh time running, Splunk was named a “Leader” in Gartner’s 2020 Magic Quadrant (MQ) for Security Information and Event Management (SIEM). In the report, Splunk was recognized for the highest overall “Ability to Execute.”

Thousands of organizations around the world use Splunk as their SIEM for security monitoring, advanced threat detection, incident investigation and forensics, incident response, SOC automation and a wide range of security analytics and operations use cases.

Download your complimentary copy of the report to find out why.

Click Here to go to Splunk's Download Page
Business Continuity, Chicago, CrossRealms, Tips & Tricks

Helpful Tips for Remote Users in the Event of a Coronavirus Outbreak

Mar 3, 2020 by Sam Taylor

Remember: Planning ahead is critical.

In response to recent news, we have a few reminders to assist with your remote access preparedness to minimize the disruption to your business. 

Remote Access

Make sure your users have access to and are authorized to use the necessary remote access tools, VPN and/or Citrix.  If you do not have a remote access account, please request one from your management and they can forward their approval to IT.

Email

If you are working from home and are working with large attachments, they can also be shared using a company approved file sharing system such as Office 365’s OneDrive, Dropbox or Citrix Sharefile. Make sure you are approved to use such service and have the relevant user IDs and passwords.  Its best to test them out before you need to use them. Make sure to comply with any security policies in effect for using these services.

Office Phone

Ensure continued access to your 3CX office phone by doing either of these things:

  1. Installing the 3CX phone software on your laptop, tablet or smartphone
  2. Forward your calls to your cell or home phone. Remember you can also access your work voice mail remotely. 

Virtual Meetings

Web meetings or video conferences become critical business tools when working remotely.  Make sure you have an account with your company web meeting/video service, with username and password.  It is a good idea to test it now to ensure your access is working correctly.

Other Recommendations

Prepare now and notice the information and supplies you need on a daily basis.  Then bring the critical information and supplies home with you in advance so you have them available in the event you need to work remotely.  Such items may include:

  1. Company contact information including emergency contact info (including Phone numbers)

  2. Home office supplies such as printer paper, toner and flash drives.

  3. Mailer envelopes large enough to send documents, etc.

  4. Make note of the closest express mailing location near your home and company account information if available

CrossRealms can help set up and manage any or all of the above for you so you can focus on your business and customers.

If you are a current CrossRealms client, please feel free to contact our hotline at 312-278-4445 and choose No.2, or email us at techsupport@newtheme.jlizardo.com

We are here to help!

Chicago, Citrix, CyberSecurity, Partners

CVE-2019-19781 – Vulnerability in Citrix Application Delivery Controller

Feb 11, 2020 by Sam Taylor

Description of Problem

A vulnerability has been identified in Citrix Application Delivery Controller (ADC) formerly known as NetScaler ADC and Citrix Gateway formerly known as NetScaler Gateway that, if exploited, could allow an unauthenticated attacker to perform arbitrary code execution.

The scope of this vulnerability includes Citrix ADC and Citrix Gateway Virtual Appliances (VPX) hosted on any of Citrix Hypervisor (formerly XenServer), ESX, Hyper-V, KVM, Azure, AWS, GCP or on a Citrix ADC Service Delivery Appliance (SDX).

Further investigation by Citrix has shown that this issue also affects certain deployments of Citrix SD-WAN, specifically Citrix SD-WAN WANOP edition. Citrix SD-WAN WANOP edition packages Citrix ADC as a load balancer thus resulting in the affected status.

The vulnerability has been assigned the following CVE number:

• CVE-2019-19781 : Vulnerability in Citrix Application Delivery Controller, Citrix Gateway and Citrix SD-WAN WANOP appliance leading to arbitrary code execution

The vulnerability affects the following supported product versions on all supported platforms:

• Citrix ADC and Citrix Gateway version 13.0 all supported builds before 13.0.47.24

• NetScaler ADC and NetScaler Gateway version 12.1 all supported builds before 12.1.55.18

• NetScaler ADC and NetScaler Gateway version 12.0 all supported builds before 12.0.63.13

• NetScaler ADC and NetScaler Gateway version 11.1 all supported builds before 11.1.63.15

• NetScaler ADC and NetScaler Gateway version 10.5 all supported builds before 10.5.70.12

• Citrix SD-WAN WANOP appliance models 4000-WO, 4100-WO, 5000-WO, and 5100-WO all supported software release builds before 10.2.6b and 11.0.3b

What Customers Should Do

Exploits of this issue on unmitigated appliances have been observed in the wild. Citrix strongly urges affected customers to immediately upgrade to a fixed build OR apply the provided mitigation which applies equally to Citrix ADC, Citrix Gateway and Citrix SD-WAN WANOP deployments. Customers who have chosen to immediately apply the mitigation should then upgrade all of their vulnerable appliances to a fixed build of the appliance at their earliest schedule. Subscribe to bulletin alerts at https://support.citrix.com/user/alerts to be notified when the new fixes are available.

The following knowledge base article contains the steps to deploy a responder policy to mitigate the issue in the interim until the system has been updated to a fixed build: CTX267679 – Mitigation steps for CVE-2019-19781

Upon application of the mitigation steps, customers may then verify correctness using the tool published here: CTX269180 – CVE-2019-19781 – Verification Tool

In Citrix ADC and Citrix Gateway Release “12.1 build 50.28”, an issue exists that affects responder and rewrite policies causing them not to process the packets that matched policy rules. This issue was resolved in “12.1 build 50.28/31” after which the mitigation steps, if applied, will be effective.  However, Citrix recommends that customers using these builds now update to “12.1 build 55.18”, or later, where CVE-2019-19781 issue is already addressed.

Customers on “12.1 build 50.28” who wish to defer updating to “12.1 build 55.18” or later should choose one from the following two options for the mitigation steps to function as intended:

1. Update to the refreshed “12.1 build 50.28/50.31” or later and apply the mitigation steps, OR

2. Apply the mitigation steps towards protecting the management interface as published in CTX267679. This will mitigate attacks, not just on the management interface but on ALL interfaces including Gateway and AAA virtual IPs

Fixed builds have been released across all supported versions of Citrix ADC and Citrix Gateway. Fixed builds have also been released for Citrix SD-WAN WANOP for the applicable appliance models. Citrix strongly recommends that customers install these updates at their earliest schedule. The fixed builds can be downloaded from https://www.citrix.com/downloads/citrix-adc/ and https://www.citrix.com/downloads/citrix-gateway/ and https://www.citrix.com/downloads/citrix-sd-wan/


Customers who have upgraded to fixed builds do not need to retain the mitigation described in CTX267679.

 

Fix Timelines

Citrix has released fixes in the form of refresh builds across all supported versions of Citrix ADC, Citrix Gateway, and applicable appliance models of Citrix SD-WAN WANOP. Please refer to the table below for the release dates.

 

Acknowledgements

Citrix thanks Mikhail Klyuchnikov of Positive Technologies, and Gianlorenzo Cipparrone and Miguel Gonzalez of Paddy Power Betfair plc for working with us to protect Citrix customers.

What Citrix Is Doing

Citrix is notifying customers and channel partners about this potential security issue. This article is also available from the Citrix Knowledge Center at  http://support.citrix.com/.

Obtaining Support on This Issue

If you require technical assistance with this issue, please contact Citrix Technical Support. Contact details for Citrix Technical Support are available at  https://www.citrix.com/support/open-a-support-case.html. 

Reporting Security Vulnerabilities

Citrix welcomes input regarding the security of its products and considers any and all potential vulnerabilities seriously. For guidance on how to report security-related issues to Citrix, please see the following document: CTX081743 – Reporting Security Issues to Citrix

Changelog

Chicago, CrossRealms, Data Protection, Partners, Splunk

Splunk 2020 Predictions

Jan 7, 2020 by Sam Taylor

Around the turn of each new year, we start to see predictions issued from media experts, analysts and key players in various industries. I love this stuff, particularly predictions around technology, which is driving so much change in our work and personal lives. I know there’s sometimes a temptation to see these predictions as Christmas catalogs of the new toys that will be coming, but I think a better way to view them, especially as a leader in a tech company, is as guides for professional development. Not a catalog, but a curriculum.

We’re undergoing constant transformation — at Splunk, we’re generally tackling several transformations at a time — but too often, organizations view transformation as something external: upgrading infrastructure or shifting to the cloud, installing a new ERP or CRM tool. Sprinkling in some magic AI dust. Or, like a new set of clothes: We’re all dressed up, but still the same people underneath. 

I think that misses a key point of transformation; regardless of what tools or technology is involved, a “transformation” doesn’t just change your toolset. It changes the how, and sometimes the why, of your business. It transforms how you operate. It transforms you.

Splunk’s Look at the Year(s) Ahead

That’s what came to mind as I was reading Splunk’s new 2020 Predictions report. This year’s edition balances exciting opportunities with uncomfortable warnings, both of which are necessary for any look into the future.

Filed under “Can’t wait for that”: 

  • 5G is probably the most exciting change, and one that will affect many organizations soonest. As the 5G rollouts begin (expect it to be slow and patchy at first), we’ll start to see new devices, new efficiencies and entirely new business models emerge. 
  • Augmented and virtual reality have largely been the domain of the gaming world. However, meaningful and transformative business applications are beginning to take off in medical and industrial settings, as well as in retail. The possibilities for better, more accessible medical care, safer and more reliable industrial operations and currently unimagined retail experiences are spine-tingling. As exciting as the gaming implications are, I think that we’ll see much more impact from the use of AR/VR in business.
  • Natural language processing is making it easier to apply artificial intelligence to everything from financial risk to the talent recruitment process. As with most technologies, the trick here is in carefully considered application of these advances. 

On the “Must watch out for that” side:

  • Deepfakes are a disturbing development that threaten new levels of fake news, and also challenge CISOs in the fight against social engineering attacks. It’s one thing to be alert to suspicious emails. But when you’re confident that you recognize the voice on the phone or the image in a video, it adds a whole new layer of complexity and misdirection.
  • Infrastructure attacks: Coming into an election year, there’s an awareness of the dangers of hacking and manipulation, but the vulnerability of critical infrastructure is another issue, one that ransomware attacks only begin to illustrate.

Tools exist to mitigate these threats, from the data-driven technologies that spot digital manipulations or trace the bot armies behind coordinated disinformation attacks to threat intelligence tools like the MITRE ATT&CK framework, which is being adopted by SOCs and security vendors alike. It’s a great example of the power of data and sharing information to improve security for all.

Change With the Times

As a leader trying to drive Splunk forward, I have to look at what’s coming and think, “How will this transform my team? How will we have to change to be successful?” I encourage everyone to think about how the coming technologies will change our lives — and to optimize for likely futures. Business leaders will need greater data literacy and an ability to talk to, and lead, technical team members. IT leaders will continue to need business and communication skills as they procure and manage more technology than they build themselves. We need to learn to manage complex tech tools, rather than be mystified by them, because the human interface will remain crucial. 

There are still some leaders who prefer to “trust their gut” rather than be “data-driven.” I always think that this is a false dichotomy. To ignore the evidence of data is foolish, but data generally only informs decisions — it doesn’t usually make them. An algorithm can mine inhuman amounts of data and find patterns. Software can extract that insight and render an elegant, comprehensible visual. The ability to ask the right questions upfront, and decide how to act once the insights surface, will remain human talents. It’s the combination of instinct and data together that will continue to drive the best decisions.

This year’s Splunk Predictions offer several great ways to assess how the future is changing and to inspire thought on how we can change our organizations and ourselves to thrive.

Chicago, CrossRealms, Microsoft, MS SQL, Tips & Tricks

Tips and Tricks with MS SQL (Part 8)

Dec 23, 2019 by Sam Taylor

Tame Your Log Files!

By default, the recovery model for database backups on Microsoft‘s SQL Server is set to “full”. This could cause issues for the uninitiated. If backups aren’t fully understood and managed correctly it could cause log files to bloat in size and get out of control. With the “full” recovery model, you get the advantage of flexibility in point-in-time restores and high-availability scenarios, but this also means having to run separate backups for log files in addition to the data files.

 

To keep things simple, we’ll look at the “simple” recovery model. When you run backups, you’re only dealing with data backups whether it’s a full or differential backup. The log file, which holds transactions between full backups, won’t be something you need to concern yourself with unless you’re doing advanced disaster recovery, like database mirroring, log shipping, or high-availability setups.

 

When dealing with a “full” recovery model, you’re not only in charge of backing up the data files, but the log files as well. In a healthy server configuration, log files are much smaller than data files. This means you can run log backups every 15 minutes or every hour without much IO activity as a full or differential backup. This is where you get the point-in-time flexibility. This is also where I often see a lot of issues…

 

Log files run astray. A new database might be created or migrated, and the default recovery model is still in “full” recovery mode. A server that relies on a simpler setup might not catch this nor have log backups in place. This means the log file will start growing exponentially, towering over the data file size, and creating hordes of VLFs (look out for a future post about these). I’ve seen a lot of administrators not know how to control this and resort to shrinking databases or files – which is just something you should never do unless your intentions are data corruption and breaking things.

 

My advice here is keep it simple. If you understand how to restore a full backup, differential backups, and log backups including which order they should be restored in and when to use “norecovery” flags,  or have third-party software doing this for you, you’re all set. If you don’t, I would suggest setting up log backups to run at regular and short interval (15 mins – 1 hour) as a precaution and changing the database recovery models to “simple”. This can keep you protected when accidentally pulling in a database that defaulted to the “full” recovery model and having its log file eat the entire disk.

 

Pro Tip: Changing your “model” database’s recovery model will determine the default recovery model used for all new databases you create.

 

Any questions, comments, or feedback are appreciated! Leave a comment or send me an email to aturika@newtheme.jlizardo.com for any SQL Server questions you might have!

3CX, Chicago, Partners, Telephony

3CX Phone System on Campus

Dec 23, 2019 by Sam Taylor

Higher Learning at a Lower Cost​

Universities are places where ideas can be communicated freely. What better way to do this, than through a unified communications system like 3CX. As the central communications system on-campus, 3CX offers multiple opportunities to encourage and facilitate learning. It can connect staff members and students with benefits for everyone, including free audio/video calls, low-cost external calls, access to all areas, integrations with other used systems, and more. Let’s examine this use case in more detail.

Affordable Communication on a Shoe-string Budget​

3CX is the ideal tool for universities that require all the advanced features of a unified communication system, without the hefty price tag. Apart from a PBX server, 3CX requires no additional hardware to be installed, making it easily accessible to your staff. The only requirement is a PC with a modern web browser. This simplifies administration, drastically reduces support requests and is a more cost-effective solution overall. What’s more, 3CX provides built-in support for a multitude of IP phones and SIP devices, making it easy to choose a desk phone or SIP device that suits everyone’s budget.

Keep in Contact, at the Lecture Theatre, Dorm or While Roaming

Add the 3CX Android and iOS apps to the mix, and your staff can talk, chat and access a university-wide shared phonebook/directory from their smartphones – wherever they may be. When calling on the move, the app reconnects calls automatically through available WiFi or 4G networks. They can also use Chat to exchange messages and documents while at the campus or anywhere else. 3CX can really empower you to do more with your devices!

Extend Your Reach to Facilitate Teamwork

Universities can typically span multiple buildings and areas, which makes setting up difficult under a single communications solution. Not so with 3CX, as it can unify all your remote offices and dorms using bridges and SBCs (Session Border Controllers), to allow your personnel and students to communicate, irrespective of their location. Academic staff and students can also use WebMeeting at no extra cost, to join on-line video meetings for study groups, or webinar sessions with teaching assistants, lab technicians, and so on.

Never Alone. Integrate & Automate

Traditionally a phone system functions in isolation, with little or no ability to interface with other university systems and services. On the contrary, 3CX includes built-in integration options with Office 365, databases, CRMs and other network-enabled systems.

As a quick example, consider a 3CX script-based IVR (Interactive Voice Response) menu, that services students’ course enrollment requests. The student calls the IVR, enters the ID for the chosen course and 3CX will deliver the student’s telephone number and course selection to the university’s course management system. What’s more, by using the Call Flow Designer (CFD), you can create call flows to automate your procedures, from course billing to announcements via text-to-speech. And CFD does not require any programming knowledge!

Keep in Control of Access & Security

Universities need to maintain controlled and secure access to areas like offices, labs, and dorms. 3CX supports popular video door phone devices which can be used with 3CX. Through this, you can attend to visitors seeking entry, or even control activity and access to specific areas – doing away with employing costly security personnel. You can also use PA systems connected to 3CX, to perform announcements in university common areas, classrooms and halls.

No Master’s Degree Required to Administer

With 3CX, administrators have freedom of choice! Install with ease on Linux, Windows, Raspberry Pi and on popular cloud providers like Google Cloud, Azure, and AWS. Not only is it easy to install, but easy to manage too. Keep your data safe by securing and managing your backups, recordings and voicemails with flexible options, on local or remote storage (FTP, SSH and SMB). What’s more, administrators can use the built-in Instance Manager to remotely monitor, manage and update a Linux PBX.

In Conclusion​

Universities are by definition communities of teachers and scholars. 3CX bridges the communication gap between these communities facilitates learning and strengthens relationships. It is the perfect fit for organizations that value communication as the primary means of education. And it comes with an affordable price tag, to boot!

Chicago, CrossRealms, Microsoft, MS SQL, Tips & Tricks

Tips and Tricks with MS SQL (Part 6)

Dec 6, 2019 by Sam Taylor

Increase the Number of TEMPDB Data Files

If you’re having issues with queries that contain insert/update statements, temp tables, table variables, calculations, or grouping or sorting of data, it’s possible you’re seeing some contention within the TEMPDB data files. A lot of Microsoft SQL servers I come across only have a single TEMPDB data file. That’s not a Best Practice according to Microsoft. If you have performance issues when the aforementioned queries run it’s a good idea to check on the number of TEMPDB files you have because often times just one isn’t enough.

 

SQL Server places certain locks on databases, including TEMPDB, when it processes queries. So, if you have 12 different databases all running queries with complex sorting algorithms and processing calculations of large datasets, all that work is first done in TEMPDB. A single file for TEMPDB doesn’t only hurt performance and efficiency but can also slow down other processes running alongside it by hogging resources and/or increased wait times. Luckily, the resolution is super simple if you’re in this situation.

 

Increase the number of data files in TEMPDB to maximize disk bandwidth and reduce contention. As Microsoft recommends, if the number of logical processors is less than or equal to 8 – that’s the number of data files you’ll want. If the number of logical processors is greater than 8, just use 8 data files. If you’ve got more than 8 logical processors and still experience contention, increase the data files by multiples of 4 while not exceeding the number of logical processors. If you still have contention issues, consider looking at your workload, code, or hardware to see where improvements can be mode.

 

PRO TIP: When you increase the number of your TEMPDB data files (on its separate drive… remember?) take this time to pre-grow your files. You’ll want to pre-grow all the data files equally and enough to take up the entire disk’s space (accounting for TEMPDB’s log file).

 

Any questions, comments, or feedback are appreciated! Leave a comment or send me an email to aturika@newtheme.jlizardo.com for any SQL Server questions you might have!

Chicago, CrossRealms, Microsoft, MS SQL, Tips & Tricks

Tips and Tricks with MS SQL (Part 5)

Dec 6, 2019 by Sam Taylor

Separate Your File Types

It’s too common and important of an occurrence to not mention the need for file separation in this series. If you’re running Microsoft SQL Server of any version, it’s important you separate your file types to different logical or physical locations. “Data” files, “Log” files, and “TEMPDB” files shouldn’t ever live in the same logical drive. This has a big impact on performance and makes troubleshooting issues much harder to isolate when it comes to finding read/write contention as a suspect.

It’s understandable, the quick need of a SQL Server pops up and you install a Development Edition or Express Edition in 10 minutes leaving file types to their default locations. However, once this system becomes a production server, you better know how to relocate these files to new locations or do it right the first time around. It’ll be easier earlier on rather than after the data grows and needs a bigger maintenance window to move.

To keep with Microsoft Best Practices, you can use a drive naming convention similar to what I’ve listed below to help remember where to place your files. If you’re fortunate enough to have physical drive separation, all the power to you. For most servers I see in this situation, it’s best to start with logical separation at a minimum to yield some powerful results.

Filetype Mapping:

– C:\ – System Databases (default MS SQL installation location)

– D:\ – Data Files

– L:\ – Log Files

– T:\ – TEMPDB Files

– B:\ – Backup Files (with redundancy of course…)

Any questions, comments, or feedback are appreciated! Leave a comment or send me an email to aturika@newtheme.jlizardo.com for any SQL Server questions you might have!

Chicago, CrossRealms, Microsoft, MS SQL, Tips & Tricks

Tips and Tricks with MS SQL (Part 2)

Dec 6, 2019 by Sam Taylor

Database Compatibility Levels Left Behind Post-Upgrades & Migrations

What’s common with almost every Microsoft SQL Server I come across that’s recently been upgraded or migrated to? The user database compatibility levels are still stuck in the past on older SQL versions. The compatibility level remains on version of SQL the database was created on. This could be several versions back or a mixed bag of databases, all on different versions. When Microsoft SQL is upgraded or databases are migrated to newer versions, the compatibility levels don’t update. It must be done manually. It’s important to update those databases to the most recent version to take advantage of all the newer version’s features. Good news is it’s very simple to change and only take a minute.

Changing the compatibility level upwards doesn’t really hold any risks unless there’s linked servers involved that run on much older versions of SQL. Even then, it’s usually relatively safe change. If you’re unsure, check with your DBA or reach out to me for questions. All you need to do is right-click the database is SQL Server Management Studio, select “Properties”, choose “Options”, and update the drop-down selector for “Compatibility Level” to your current version of SQL Server. It’s important you don’t forget to update these settings after migrating or upgrading to a newer version of MS SQL Server.

Any questions, comments, or feedback are appreciated! Feel free to reach out to aturika@newtheme.jlizardo.com for any SQL Server questions you might have! 

Chicago, CrossRealms Team

Plants with Sam: Spider Plants

Jul 16, 2019 by Sam Taylor

Hi, it’s Sam with the next segment of Plants with Sam! If you’re a little late to the plant party, my first post with more details about this blog series and why I’m doing it can be found here. 

 

Today I would like to talk about the spider plant. These plants are pretty popular for two reasons: they’re super easy to take care of, and given the right conditions, they produce babies like crazy!

 

I got my own spider plant from a friend, and it was a baby from one of her main plants. The way this works is if the conditions are right (lots of light and warm temperatures, as well as a snug pot), they will send out a shoot from the middle of the plant and at the end of that shoot, a miniature spider plant will grow. It’s best to wait until the tiny spider plant is starting to grow its own roots, then you can just pinch it off and stick it in the soil!

Here are some tips and tricks that will help you care for your spider plant:

Light

Spider plants prefer nice, bright light, but they will also be alright in lower light conditions.

Water

They don’t need water too often, just about every other week or so. Let the soil dry out completely in between waterings. If your water has a lot of salts or minerals in it, it would be best to use distilled water or rainwater.

Soil

Most soils that drain quickly work fine for these plants. It’s best to use soils that don’t have a lot of fertilizer in them.

Temperature

Spider plants like it a bit on the warmer side, so it’s best to keep the temperature between 70 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit. They will survive in temperatures as low as 35 degrees, but they will not grow much if the temperature is under 65.

Fertilizer

Less is more when it comes to fertilizer for spider plants. Use a diluted houseplant fertilizer in spring and summer.

If you follow these tips, your spider plant will have no issues being happy and healthy! Don’t forget to stay tuned for more plant care tips!